Excitement mounting in KZN as India come to town
For the first time since the ICC T20 World Cup final, the Proteas will host India at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium on Friday in first of four T20s.
The tickets for the clash are sold out as the KZN public shows their appetite for T20 cricket, especially in a series against India.
This series will see the Proteas welcome back some of their big guns, while India have brought a slightly weaker squad as their test side gears up for the Border/Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Despite this, Proteas captain Aiden Markram feels that it will still be a hotly contested series starting on Friday.
“There are personnel changes for both teams from that World Cup final, but it is always an exciting series when we play India, especially when we play them at home,” Markram said.
“We haven’t addressed anything about it being a rematch [of the World Cup final], but obviously a lot of the talk and promotion has happened through that lens which is completely understandable.”
The players and spectators will be looking to the sky on Friday as the seasonal rains prevail over KwaZulu-Natal, the forecast suggests that it won’t rain for the clash at Kingsmead.
Heading into a four match series, a strong start is important and Markram knows that his side are ready to hit the ground running.
“In any series you play you want to get ahead early. We’ll try take care of Friday’s game and then take it from there.
“You don’t look at it as a full series; you take it game by game as you go and getting off to a good start would certainly help for the rest of the series.”
The first ball will be bowled at 6pm on Friday evening.
