Why KL Rahul not playing today: Why is KL Rahul not playing today’s 1st T20I between India and South Africa in Delhi?

KL Rahul not playing: India have handed international comebacks to Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik at the Arun Jaitley Stadium tonight.

During the first T20I of the ongoing South Africa’s tour of India in Delhi, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has won the toss and chose to field.

“We are going to have a bowl first. We played a practice game here a couple of days ago, saw that the wicket got better to bat on. It was a bit slow and sloppy at the beginning, hopefully we can exploit that and restrict them to a decent score and chase it down,” Bavuma told Star Sports at the toss.

Leading for the first time in an international match in India, Bavuma announced a Playing XI comprising of multiple bowling options especially after batter and part-time spinner Aiden Markram tested positive for COVID-19.

“Aiden [Markram] was not available for selection as he tested positive for COVID. [Tristan] Stubbs comes in and it is a debut for him. We have two all rounders; Dwaine [Pretorius] and [Wayne] Parnell also come into the fold,” Bavuma said.

Why is KL Rahul not playing vs South Africa?

Playing his 98th international match across formats, India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant is leading them for the first time tonight. India’s eighth T20I captain and 42nd overall, Pant is the second-youngest to lead India in the shortest format.

Pant has received this promotion after captain KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to a left groin injury on the eve of the match. With India not announcing a replacement for Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad has got an opportunity as Ishan Kishan’s opening partner.

“I think it is a good surface and don’t mind batting first. But if I had won the toss I would have bowled first. It [leading India] is one of the proudest moment in my cricketing career so far. Thanks to everyone for giving me this opportunity. We know our XI but at the same time we are giving different roles to players and see how they cope with that going forward,” Pant told Star Sports at the toss.

India, who have made as many as eight changes to their Playing XI from the last T20I against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala in February, have handed comebacks to all-rounder Hardik Pandya and veteran batter Dinesh Karthik. While all-rounder Axar Patel has replaced injured spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the XI, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan form part of a three-member pacer attack.