South Africa's Aiden Markram was ruled out of the first T20I against India after testing positive for Covid-19, captain Temba Bavuma said on Thursday. Markram was among the South African players who were playing in India before the start of the series in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"Aiden wasn't available for selection - he tested positive for Covid - and (Tristian) Stubbs makes his debut today," said Bavuma at the toss at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium, which he won and chose to bowl first. Bavuma also said that Wayne Parnell finds a place in the squad. The fast bowler is making his first T20I appearance for South Africa since June 2017.
India vs South Africa 1st T20I Live
Meanwhile, India decided to not to hand fast bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik their debut caps. Both players had created a buzz through their performances in the IPL but Rishabh Pant, standing in as captain after KL Rahul got injured, said that they have decided to play Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel as their fast bowlers for the game.
“I think it is a good surface and don't mind batting first. But if I had won the toss I would have bowled first. It is one of the proudest moment in my cricketing career so far. Because a Delhi boy getting that (captaincy) honour at Delhi is a huge thing for me. Thanks to everyone for giving me this opportunity. We know our XI but at the same time we are giving different roles to players and see how they cope with that going forward,” said Pant.
{{/usCountry}}“I think it is a good surface and don't mind batting first. But if I had won the toss I would have bowled first. It is one of the proudest moment in my cricketing career so far. Because a Delhi boy getting that (captaincy) honour at Delhi is a huge thing for me. Thanks to everyone for giving me this opportunity. We know our XI but at the same time we are giving different roles to players and see how they cope with that going forward,” said Pant.
{{/usCountry}}Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan