India vs South Africa, 1st T20I: Why Durban is an ideal venue for India to start the South Africa tour

NEW DELHI: When Suryakumar Yadav's men will take on South Africa in the first T20I at Kingsmead in Durban on Sunday, Team India will be returning to a venue where they are yet to lose a game in the shortest format.
India's long tour of South Africa consists of 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Test matches and like as always a good start will matter. A victory will set India for the rest of the tour in a country where they are yet to win a series.

But India have fond memories for Durban as the Men in Blue have played 5 T20Is at the venue and have not lost any.All those matches came in the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup edition, which capitulated the winning captain MS Dhoni to stardom.
India's first match of the tournament at Durban was against Scotland, but it was a washout.
India next faced Pakistan at the same venue. The match was a tied affair and India registered a famous triumph by winning the bowl out.

Yuvraj Singh hit 6 sixes in an over by Stuart Broad in the next match at Durban as India best England.
India went on to defeat South Africa (by 37 runs) next, with Rohit Sharma hitting an unbeaten 40-ball 50 and RP Singh taking 4 wickets.
Australia came next but the Indian juggernaut defeated the reigning ODI champions of that time by 15 runs, with Yuvraj Singh smashing a 30-ball 70.

So India have plenty of positive factors going into the match against South Africa.
Suryakumar Yadav will captain India as Hardik Pandya is out with an injury. Suryakumar is coming off fresh from leading India to a 4-1 T20 home series win against Australia.
With the T20 World Cup due to be played in the West Indies and United States in June, the three-match T20 series provides an opportunity for fringe players to press their claims.

T20I squads:
India: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-Capt.), Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav
South Africa: Aiden Markram (Capt.), Ottniel Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad Williams