NEW DELHI: South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bat against India in their opening Super Eight clash of the T20 World Cup on Sunday.

South Africa made four changes to their playing XI from the previous game, bringing back Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller and Marco Jansen.

India, meanwhile, decided to stick with the same combination.

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

Markram backs batting first

Markram expressed confidence in the surface and hoped his side could post a challenging total.

“We think it’s going to be a good surface throughout, and hopefully we can put a nice big score on the board. The boys are in good touch, which is always a blessing.”

Surya wanted to set the tone

India captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted he would have preferred to bat first but was not overly concerned. He pointed out that there was some help for bowlers early on in the previous game at the venue.

“I was actually looking to bat first, but it’s okay. We played here two or three days back and when they were bowling first, there was a little bit in the wicket, so why not take that advantage?”

(With PTI Inputs)