India went back to losing the toss under a new captain in the first T20I against South Africa, after winning the toss in the series decider in the ODIs. As expected, Aiden Markram chose to chase with dew expected to play a role in the night. Suryakumar Yadav wasn't too fussed, expecting having to bowl with the wet ball.
India welcomed back Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya to the XI after injury-forced breaks. "The body feels perfectly fine physically, I spent some time at the COE [BCCI's Centre of Excellence]," Gill said. "Perfectly fine physically and mentally feeling ready. I had a disc bulge in my neck which was hitting the nerves. When I went there [to bat in the Kolkata Test], I had a bit of a spasm before the start of play in the morning. And when I played the game, I got a bulge which hit the nerve and had to go the hospital for a couple of days but recovered well after that."
Japsrit Bumrah, who was rested for the ODIs, also returned to the XI for the first T20I, along with the format's specialists - Suryakumar, Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy, Jitesh Sharma. India decided they needed two quicks in the XI, which meant Kuldeep Yadav was left out. They went for Arshdeep Singh ahead of Harshit Rana as the second fast bowler, which meant India had batting depth till No. 8 and not No. 9. Axar Patel, left out for the ODIs, was listed at No. 8. Varun, Arshdeep and Bumrah were nine, ten and eleven.
South Africa welcomed back Anrich Nortje, David Miller and Donovan Ferreira into the XI. Lutho Sipamla and Lungi Ngidi were the other two fast bowlers to go with Nortje and Marco Jansen, and Keshav Maharaj the lone frontline spinner.
India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 8 Axar Patel, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Aiden Markram (capt), 3 Tristan Stubbs, 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 David Miller, 6 Donovan Ferreira, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Lutho Sipamla, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Lungi Ngidi