India and South Africa are preparing to square off in the opening T20I of their five-match series, set to be played on Tuesday in Cuttack. Following years of scattered bilateral T20Is, the latest assignment finally serves up a proper series where form will matter a lot. With the 2026 T20 World Cup fast approaching, this series will be crucial in terms of preparation, refinement, and clarity. For India, this is the start of a major T20 stretch: ten matches between now and the T20I event, five against South Africa and five against New Zealand. All matches will be played at home. For South Africa, the schedule is similarly packed. They’ll play eight T20Is in the same period.

India are riding high on success, having beaten Australia recently. And they lifted the Asia Cup as well in September. Suryakumar Yadav continues as India’s T20I captain. The biggest development for India is the return of Shubman Gill, who is back after recovering from a neck injury that kept him out of the Test series and the ODIs. Jasprit Bumrah, rested during the ODIs, is back to lead the attack. Assisting him will be Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana. South Africa, on the other hand, lost the ODI series, but they will be raring to bounce back in the shortest format. Aiden Markram returns to full-time captaincy, and the comeback of Quinton de Kock at the top will provide firepower.  

Head-to-head

Matches - 31

IND won - 18

SA won - 12

No result - 1

India probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma/Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Charavarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.

South Africa probable XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Reeza Hendricks, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Corbin Bosch/George Linde, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje