Relieved by Ro-Ko absence, South Africa ready with fresh plans for India: Markram

In what will be a replace of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final, India and South Africa will commence a five-match T20I series with the first game set to take place at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Monday. South Africa whitewashed India 2-0 in the Test series while KL Rahul-led Team India bounced back to win the ODI series 2-1 on Saturday.

Suryakumar Yadav’s Indian side will now look to continue their preparation for the defence of their T20 World Cup title next year as they face Proteas. Indians have won 87 per cent of their T20I matches since the T20 World Cup 2024 win under Rohit Sharma, including their Asia Cup 2025 title win earlier this year.

The first game will see the return of vice-captain Shubman Gill and all-rounder Hardik Pandya returning from different injuries. Gill missed the second Test followed by the ODI series due to neck injury while Hardik has been out of action since the Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2025 against Sri Lanka due to quadriceps injury.