South Africa captain Aiden Markram wins toss, opts to field against India

Markram said left-arm quick Nandre Burger is making his T20I debut in this match.

Johannesburg: South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to field against India in the third and final T20I of a three-match series here at New Wanderers Stadium on Thursday.

After the first match got washed out due to the rain, Proteas registered a five-wicket victory (DLS method) over India in the second T20I, taking a 1-0 lead in the series.

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Markram said left-arm quick Nandre Burger is making his T20I debut in this match.

Speaking at the time of the toss, Markram said, “We are gonna bowl first again. Fresh wicket, happy with how we chased the other night. There’s room for improvement in all aspects. Opportunity tonight to fix that. It’s big (to win a series against India). A great occasion, and hopefully, the boys can express themselves. We’ve got three changes. Kesh comes back, Nandre Burger gets his debut and Donovan Ferreira comes in for Tristian Stubbs.” The players missing from the Proteas side include Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, who are off to prepare for the Tests, and Tristan Stubbs.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav said he would have batted first anyway.

Suryakumar said, “We wanted to put runs on the board and defend. Looks a good track, don’t think it’ll change much. That’s the brand of play we want to play, guys want to be fearless. Lot of positives from the last game. Same playing XI.” South Africa (Playing XI): Reeza Hendricks, Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi and Nandre Burger.

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar.