India and South Africa will lock horns today at Thiruvananthapuram's Greenfield International Stadium to commence the three-match T20 International series. Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022, South Africa is going to play India in a three-match T20I and ODI series.


For the IND Vs SA T20I series, Rohit Sharma is leading the Men in Blue and as for South Africa, Captain Temba Bavuma is taking charge of the Proteas.


India recently won a 3-match T20I series against Australia 2-1 at home. During the IND Vs AUS T20I series, the hosts were defeated by 4 wickets in the first T20I. However, India regained its stride in the following two games, winning the second and third T20Is. 


The most recent T20I series South Africa played was against Ireland last month in England. South Africa won the two-match T20I series 2-0.


Weather Report


According to data from weather.com, Thiruvananthapuram will see daytime highs of 30°C and nighttime lows of 25°C on Wednesday, September 28. Both day and night will have some clouds in the sky. There is a 17% chance of rain during the day and a 21% chance at night. Daytime humidity will be 74%, while nighttime humidity will be 85%.


Pitch Report


The Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram has only held two international games so far, and this is the ground's first T20I in three years. Based on previous games, run-scoring has not been easy on this pitch with the average 1st innings T20I score being only 118 runs.


Only two international matches have been played on this pitch, one ODI and one T20I. In the 2018 ODI match against West Indies, the first innings score at the venue was 104 and the second innings score was 105. The other International T20 match was shortened to 8 overs due to rain where India won by 6 runs against New Zealand.  


A total of 14 T20 domestic matches have already been played at this venue, with the average first innings score in those games being merely 127 runs, indicating that the previous records do not favour the batsmen. As the game progresses, this ground gets more difficult to bat.