IND vs SA 1st T20: Cuttack pitch sees India fall short against South Africa every time, record shameful

IND vs SA 1st T20, Cuttack Record: The first T20 match of the series between India and South Africa will be played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.

India vs South Africa 1st T20, Cuttack Record: After facing a clean sweep in the Test series, the Indian team made a spectacular comeback in the ODI series, defeating the visiting team 2-1 to clinch the series. Now, India's focus will be on the T20 series starting from Tuesday, December 9. The first match of the series is to be played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. The Indian team has made thorough preparations for this. Let's take a look at India's performance in T20 matches played at this stadium...

South Africa Holds the Upper Hand Here Too

Only three T20 matches have been played at Cuttack's Barabati Stadium so far. Out of these, two matches have been played between India and South Africa, in which the visiting team has been dominant. The African team won both matches while chasing the target. The first international T20 between India and South Africa was played here in 2015, which the African team won by 6 wickets. In another match between the two teams in 2022, visiting South Africa defeated India by 4 wickets. India's only T20 victory here was against Sri Lanka in 2017. In this match, India had defeated Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 93 runs.

Teams Will Prefer to Chase

In all three matches played in Cuttack, teams winning the toss have opted to bowl. Two out of three matches were won by the team batting second. Looking at these two encounters, South Africa has dominated India at this venue. The highest score in an international T20 at this ground is 180 runs. Bowlers get assistance on this pitch, and scoring big runs is difficult here. Spinners prove effective on this ground. Fast bowlers can also pick up wickets by exploiting the uneven bounce of this pitch.

Probable Playing 11 for Both Teams –

India – Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Varun Chakravarthy.

South Africa – Aiden Markram (Captain), Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock (Wicketkeeper), Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje.