All eyes will be on captain Suryakumar Yadav as India gets ready to play South Africa in the first Twenty20 International in Durban on Thursday. Yadav has a strong record against the Proteas.

With their first game in Durban on Friday, the youthful Indian team hopes to continue their T20I supremacy as they begin their four-T20I tour of South Africa.

Suryakumar has an impressive T20I record against South Africa. He has amassed 346 runs at an average of 57.67 and a strike rate of 175.60 in seven games, including four half-centuries and a century, with a maximum score of 100. During the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, he scored a tough 68 in Perth. He battled valiantly on a difficult surface as wickets dropped all around him, assisting India in reaching 133/9 but eventually losing.

Suryakumar has scored 2,544 runs at an average of 42.40 and a strike rate of 169.48 in his 74 games and 71 innings of T20I play, including four hundreds and 21 fifties. 117 is his greatest score to date.

The second Twenty20 International will take place at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on November 10; the third match will take place at SuperSport Park in Centurion on November 13. On November 15, Wanderers Stadium will host the fourth Twenty20 International to wrap off the series.

Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav comprise the Indian T20I team.