South Africa captain Aiden Markram said that the Proteas always look forward to a series against the Men in Blue before the first Twenty20 International of the series against India.

Following their loss to Men in Blue in the T20 World Cup 2024 final on June 29, the Proteas will play their first T20 match against India.

Markram said during the pre-game news conference that since they would be playing in front of home supporters, the series will be fascinating. The inaugural Twenty20 international match would not be a rerun of the 2024 T20 World Cup final, he noted.

“I suppose the nations are the same, but both teams’ members have changed. Playing India is always a fascinating series, but it’s much more so when you play them at home. We have long anticipated this series. We haven’t discussed whether it will be a rematch or something like that. It is only reasonable that a lot of discussion and advertisements have taken place via that prism, Markram said.

Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban will host the start of the India vs. South Africa series on November 8.

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.

Aiden Markram (captain), Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Patrick Kruger, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Mihlali Mpongwana, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Andile Simelane, Lutho Sipamla of the third and fourth Twenty20 Internationals, and Tristan Stubbs comprise the South African T20I team.