South Africa Vs India: The rains played a game of a spoilsport in the first match of India’s tour of South Africa in 2023 and 2024. The much anticipated clash between South Vs India in the first match of the shortest format series was called off without the toss and even a ball wasn’t bowled. Now the second T20I match will be played tomorrow at a new venue.
Match – South Africa Vs India 2nd T20 International Match
Venue – St. George’s Park in Gqeberha
Day – Tuesday
Date – 12th December 2023
Toss Timings – 8 PM Indian Standard Time (IST), 2.30 PM GMT and 4.30 PM Local
Match Timings – 8.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST), 3 PM GMT and 5 PM Local
Television Channel – Star Sports India Network
Live Streaming – Disney+ Hotstar Mobile Application
India – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel/Ravi Bishoi, Rinku Singh/Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Mukesh Kumar.
South Africa - Aiden Markram(c), Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tristan Stubbs, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Donovan Ferreira.
Batters – Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav
Bowlers – Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee and Mukesh Kumar
All-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja and Marco Jansen
Wicket-keeper – Ishan Kishan
Vice-captain – David Miller
Captain – Rinku Singh.
The 2nd match of this three match series of the shortest format will be played in a new stadium after the washout at Kingsmead in Durban. The action nows shifts to St. George’s Park and only three T20 International matches have been played at this venue till now. Two teams who had batted first went on to win the match and one team who bowled first won 1 game.
If a team wins the toss at ST. George’s Park, then they should opt to bowl first. The new ball bowers, the pacers will get some help from this wicket and they can get that initial moment as well. But the spin bowlers will not get much assistance from this wicket in the first innings. However, the wicket gets slower in the second innings, that might help them a bit.
The crowd had attended the first game in large numbers. But the rains didn’t make way for the match to start. Now in the second match of this three match series of the shortest format, we shall hope and pray that we could get a full game in St. George’s Park as both the teams cannot afford to miss a single T20 International match to get prepared for the mega ICC event in West Indies and United States of America in 2024.
The weather forecast is not great for the second T20I match as well between South Africa Vs India as well. The rains might play a spoilsport at St. George’s Park. Due to the rains, the team who will win the toss should opt to bowl first because the DLS method will come into play. There 45 percent chances of rains and this game will have stoppage in between.