Durban, Nov 8 (IANS): South Africa have won the toss and chose to field first against India in the first T20I match of the four-game series at Kingsmead Cricket Ground here on Friday, in their first clash after the T20 World Cup final. The reigning T20 World Cup winners will be facing the Proteas side they nudged past in the final of the tournament when India beat South Africa by seven runs to lift the trophy for a second time.

The Suryakumar Yadav-led India have been in top form since the final in June with the team having won 10 of their 11 matches since. The Men in Blue also hold the venue advantage over their opponents with the side never having lost in Durban and have four wins in five games at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground.

Despite the overcast conditions, Surya kept his cool and claimed the team would have chosen to bat had they won the toss.

“We were looking to bat first. The wicket looks nice, better than the practice wicket and we will try to put runs on the board. The guys in the dressing room have made my job easier, the fearless approach they play with for their respective franchises and have brought the same approach to the team,” said Yadav at the toss.

South Africa, on the other hand, have won only one of their five games since the final and are struggling in the shortest format having not won a single bilateral T20I series since August 2022. Historically, the two nations have faced off 27 times in T20I matches, with India holding a slight edge, having won 15 encounters compared to South Africa's 11 victories.

Playing XIs:

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakravarthy

South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Partrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter.