Daijiworld Media Network

Dharamsala, Oct 2 : The much awaited Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series is here and it all kicks off at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. We begin with the T20Is today. Interestingly, India hold a distinct advantage in the head-to-head record between both the sides in the T20 format. Out of 8 games, India have won six and South Africa have won only two. The Proteas would be looking to improve their record in this series, especially with the 2016 World T20 in mind.

South Africa have won the toss and have opted to field

Pitch Report: 'Beautiful ground, great atmosphere. There is a bit more grass than I expected, the South Africans won't mind that. The dew factor might come into play. The captains might take that into consideration while making their decision at the toss. The outfield is beautiful, nice and hard, expect a lot of runs. Hopefully we will have an exciting game to start off the series,' reckons Graeme Smith.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock(w), Faf du Plessis(c), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Farhaan Behardien, Chris Morris, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada, Marchant de Lange, Imran Tahir

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sreenath Aravind

MS Dhoni: 'It's good to be back after a long break of three months. We were also looking to bowl first, there has been dew over here. It will be a challenge for the spinners. Sreenath Aravind will be making his debut, he has done well in the IPL and whatever T20s he's played. Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny, Harbhajan Singh and Ajinkya Rahane are the ones to miss out.'

Faf du Plessis: 'We will bowl first because of the dew factor, hopefully the ball will skid on later. This is close to the mountains, hopefully we can bowl them out cheaply and chase it down. Albie Morkel, Khaye Zondo, and the leggie, Eddie Leie miss out.'

Moving focus to the South African camp, Faf du Plessis is back as T20 captain. Since the Bangladesh series a few months ago, AB de Villiers has decided that he will open the batting in the T20 format. So that poses a stiff challenge to the opposition bowlers very early in the innings. Albie Morkel is returning to international fold after over a year. He last played a game for South Africa during the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh.

MS Dhoni is back in India colours after a few months and the early team news is that Karnataka pacer Sreenath Aravind has been handed his India cap by the Indian captain. Aravind had an impressive outing towards the end of IPL-8 and he would be happy that he will open his account at Dharamsala, where the pitch might help the seamers a bit early on. A few minutes ago, Virat Kohli was seen doing the talking in the team huddle.

Preview:

South Africa are set to embark on a full-fledged series in India after a long time. In a 72-day sojourn, they will start off with three T20Is followed by five ODIs and four Tests. Usually, in such a tour, the T20Is are spoken of with least importance. That is mainly because the format gets precedence in domestic leagues rather than international tours. However, this time around it will be watched keenly. The World T20 is just around the corner and now is the time to get to know the team combinations, their strengths, weaknesses and similar rigmarole.

For South Africa, it is a chance to get to know the conditions better. Their performances and learning from these three games in particular will be of great significance when they come around again in February for the world event. It's no surprise that India will be trying to do the same. They are short of experience as far as T20Is go but have players with plenty of experience in the format itself, thanks to the Indian Premier League. But as they will find out, international cricket comes with its own set of challenges that need addressing.

Venue: Dharamsala
2nd October, 2015
Time: 07:00 PM

India

Since losing the final of the World T20 in 2014, India have played only three T20Is. They've won one and lost two. Two of those came against Zimbabwe where a second-string side participated. There is little indication as to what the team management would be thinking in terms of team combinations. Shikhar Dhawan will feature ahead of Rahane as the opener as long as his fitness is not of concern. Dharamsala is known for producing pitches that favour the seamers and so Stuart Binny is likely to get the nod ahead of Axar Patel while two experienced campaigners in Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh would be expected to play a more attacking role since India have no pacer who could breach the 140-mark consistently.

The middle-order might be subject to change, depending on the match situation and there will be no fixed batting spots for the likes of Rayudu, Dhoni or Raina.

South Africa

Like India, South Africa will be using the games to get the possible fits for each position. AB de Villiers looks set to assume the wicket-keeping and opening roles at least for the first game while du Plessis will be pondering over the number of spinners to pick in the eleven. He did seem concerned about the dew factor at Dharamsala. That could render the spinners ineffective and force him to pick Kagiso Rabada over one of the two spinners.

With a good set of all-rounders, South Africa have plenty of variety in batting and bowling. They will look upon JP Duminy to shoulder a lot more bowling responsibilities in these conditions as well. Eddie Leie impressed against Bangladesh and could well be the surprise in the pack.