Centurion T20I: Proteas win toss, put India to bat first

Centurion [South Africa], Feb 21 (ANI): South Africa won the toss and asked India to bat first in the second T20I of the three-match series being played at the SuperSport Park here on Wednesday.

For India, Right-arm fast bowler Shardul Thakur will make his T20I debut to replace Jasprit Bumrah in the Playing XI.

Bumrah has been excluded in the decider T20I as he is suffering abdomen stiffness, skipper Virat Kohli explained.

South Africa, on the other hand, decided to field the same team which played the first T20I in Johannesburg.

India are currently leading the series 1-0 after a convincing 28-run win in the opening T20I and will aim to wrap-up the series here.

South Africa, on the other hand, will look to bounce back to keep themselves alive in the series.

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Virat Kohli is on verge of breaking Viv Richards and Donald Bradman's record of most number of runs scored in a single tour.

In the ongoing tour of South Africa so far, Kohli has notched up 870 runs, including seven sixes and 91 boundaries, from 13 innings he played at an average of 87.00 and a strike rate of 82.38.

The 29-year-old ended the ODI series against South Africa with 558 runs, becoming the first batsman ever to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series.

Kohli struck three centuries in the six-match series and is the only Indian to notch up three tons in a bilateral series.

Kohli now needs to score just 175 more runs in the final two T20I matches to go past Richards' record. The West Indies legend had scored 1,045 runs in his side's tour to England in 1976.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal.

South Africa Playing XI: Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram (c), JP Duminy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Morne Morkel. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI