The series, starting June 9, will be key in a T20 World Cup year

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2022Delhi will host the opening match of the five-T20I series against South Africa starting June 9, the BCCI announced on Saturday. The other four cities to play hosts are Cuttack, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot and Bengaluru. The final T20I will be played on June 19.The series – key from the point of view of the men’s T20 World Cup, to be played in Australia in November – will start not long after the final of the IPL, which is scheduled for May 29.

South Africa in India

June 9 – 1st T20I, Delhi
June 12 – 2nd T20I, Cuttack
June 14 – 3rd T20I, Visakhapatnam
June 17 – 4th T20I, Rajkot
June 19 – 5th T20I, Bengaluru

South Africa last toured India for a short ODI series in March 2020, but after the first match of that series, in Dharamsala, was washed out without a ball bowled, the rest of the series was called off following the outbreak of Covid-19.The two teams last played a T20I series in September 2019, when South Africa toured India for three T20Is and three Tests. Late last year, India had toured South Africa for three Tests and three ODIs, and lost both series.All of India’s T20I regulars, with the exception of the injured Deepak Chahar, are a part of the ongoing IPL, while there are a bunch of South Africa’s premier cricketers in the mix, namely Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, who is still on his path to recovery following an injury that kept him out of action from the end of the T20 World Cup late last year till his comeback match, for Delhi Capitals, on April 7.