Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav’s decision to prefer Shubman Gill over Sanju Samson continues to backfire as he is unable to contribute with the bat in T20Is. After the ordinary Asia Cup 2025 and the series in Australia, Gill’s return to the side was not impressive. He managed just 4 runs in the first match against South Africa and was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi after facing just two balls.

The right-handed batter hit a boundary on the second delivery of the match, but was sent back on the next while trying to go over the top, with Marco Jansen taking his catch.

His recent numbers in T20Is have been concerning. Gill is back in action after recovering from his neck injury sustained during the first Test against the Temba Bavuma-led side at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He also missed the second Test and the ODI series.

On the other hand, Samson, who scored three hundreds as an opener, was demoted in the batting order to include vice-captain Shubman in the Playing XI. Samon failed to score consistently and was dropped from the team. Jitesh Sharma, who plays as a finisher for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is playing as a wicket-keeper.

Meanwhile, Surykumar lost another toss, and Markram invited the Men in Blue to bat first in Cuttack.

Playing XIs

India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Jitesh Sharma, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

South Africa: 1 Quinton of Kock (wk), 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Tristan Stubbs, 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 David Miller, 6 Donnovan Ferreira, 7 Marco Jansen, 8