India return to Sushma Verma as wicketkeeper, in place of Taniya Bhatia
South Africa Women won the toss and chose to bowl v India Women
South Africa Women’s stand-in captain Sune Luus decided to chase against hosts India, who are playing their first match in almost a year. India last played in the Women’s T20 World Cup final on March 8 last year and their last ODI was 15 months ago, against West Indies.
India have made two changes to their XI from that day, giving 21-year-old seamer Monica Patel a debut and returning to Sushma Verma as wicketkeeper, in place of Taniya Bhatia.
South Africa are without regular captain Dane van Niekerk and allrounder Chloe Tryon, who are both recovering from lower-back injuries and are fielding a slightly different side to the XI that last beat Pakistan at home. Marizanne Kapp, who was rested for the final match in that series is back into the team, as well as Nadine de Klerk and Lara Goodall. Tazmin Brits, Anne Bosch and Masabata Klaas miss out.
The five ODI and three T20 series will be played entirely in Lucknow, with 10% capacity allowed to attend matches.
India: 1 Punam Raut, 2 Smriti Mandhana, 3 Mithali Raj (c), 4 Harmanpreet Kaur, 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Sushma Verma (wk), 8 Jhulan Goswami, 9 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 10 Monica Patel, 11 Poonam Yadav
South Africa: 1 Laura Woolvardt, 2 Lizelle Lee, 3 Sune Luus (wk), 4 Marizanne Kapp, 5 Lara Goodall, 6 Mignon du Preez, 7 Trisha Chetty, 8 Nadine de Klerk, 9 Shabnim Ismail, 10 Ayabonga Khaka, 11 Nonkululekho Mlaba
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent