The five-match T20 series between India and South Africa will start from today i.e. Tuesday. Under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, Team India will face South Africa led by Aiden Markram. The first T20 between India and South Africa will be played today (Tuesday) in Cuttack. But do you know that the Indian team’s record at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack has not been good. The record of the Indian team here is really scary.

In 2015, South Africa defeated India by 6 wickets on this ground.

Till now Team India has played 3 matches in Cuttack. The Indian team has faced defeat in two of these matches. The first T20 match was played between India and South Africa on 5 October 2015 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Then the South African team had restricted the Indian team to just 92 runs in 17.2 overs. South Africa won this match with 6 wickets remaining.

India had lost to South Africa here in 2022 also

India and South Africa faced each other at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on June 12, 2022. South Africa won this match by 4 wickets. This time, after batting first, the Indian team could score only 148 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs. After this, South Africa won the match with 10 balls remaining. Heinrich Klaasen played an inning of 81 runs in 46 balls.

Pitch report of Barabati Stadium, Cuttack (Cuttack Barabati Stadium Pitch Report)

The highest score in an innings of a T20 International match in Cuttack so far is 180 runs, which is in the name of Team India. However, this record may be broken here today. There will be a match between India and South Africa today i.e. on Tuesday on a red clay pitch. This match is expected to be high scoring. It will be easy to score runs here. There will be enough dew here. In such a situation, bowling in the second innings will be very difficult. Considering this, the team winning the toss can decide to chase.

Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha is ready for the India-South Africa T20 match. There is a village just 40 kilometers away from this stadium where cricket is still ‘taboo’. Nuagadh village of Jagatsinghpur district was once considered the stronghold of cricket. In the same village, for the last 21 years, he is afraid of even touching the bat and ball. The reason is that dark afternoon of March 1, 2004, which snatched away the entire cricket team from the entire village.

The tragic incident of 2004 that changed the village

13 young players of Nuagadh, Utkalmani Cricket Club team, were going to Mahakalapara to play in the final of the local tournament. The road was full of water. The boat capsized at Bahkuda Ghat of Mahanadi, and all the 13 players drowned in the river. After this heart-wrenching incident, the village took a collective decision that cricket will no longer be played here. No matches, no tournaments, no celebrations… just silence in the name of sports.

Pain was handled by making a memorial

Three years after the incident, in 2007, the villagers came together to build a memorial. A tower with the names of all 13 players engraved on it. This tower stands in the middle of the village, as if reminding every day what cricket has taken away from them.

pain of widows

The most pain is in those homes from where young sons and men left together. Biswajit Ray’s wife, Rosalini, still cannot forget that day. She said, “Only a few months had passed since my marriage. My husband was both a batsman and a bowler. He loved cricket so much that it took his life.”

India vs South Africa 1st T20 will be played at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. This match to be held on Tuesday, December 9 will be special, because for the first time the match is going to be played on red clay wicket in Cuttack. The match will start at 7 pm, the toss will play an important role here.

Before the match, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav said about the pitch that I have not seen it yet but hopefully it will be good. He said that the black soil pitch would have been good, but he felt that the red soil pitch would also be good. He said, “The red clay wicket can also be fast, let’s see but if it remains fast then it will be good.”

Barabati Stadium records (T20I)

A total of 3 T20 International matches have previously been held at Barabati Stadium, out of which 2 were between India and South Africa. The bad thing is that South Africa has defeated India in both the matches. Whereas India won the other match against Sri Lanka by 93 runs.

The highest T20 International score on this ground is 180 runs, which was made by India against Sri Lanka. The lowest score is 87, which was scored by Sri Lanka in this match.

Talking about the toss, whoever wins will prefer to bowl first. There may be dew here, so batting may be a little easier in the second innings. Although weather will also be a problem, the chance of rain here is said to be 10 percent.

India vs South Africa 1st T20 pitch report

The red clay pitch may help the fast bowlers, but a high-scoring match is expected. The pitch looks suitable for batting from T20 point of view. Here for the first time a score of 200 can be made in T20. The decision to bowl first after winning the toss may prove to be correct, but if the team batting first scores 200, then the difficulties for the team playing in the second innings will increase.

Indian team

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Verma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Washington Sundar, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty.

south african team

David Miller, Reza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brewis, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Donovan Ferreira (wk), Quinton de Kock (wk), Tristan Stubbs (wk), Enrique Norkhia, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamala, Otniel Bartman.