Durban, April 19 (IANS) India handed a debut to batting all-rounder Anushka Sharma while bringing in Kranti Gaud into the playing eleven as an unchanged South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second T20I at Kingsmead on Sunday.

South Africa are leading the five-game series 1-0 after beating India by six wickets in the series opener at the same venue on Friday. “The wicket should be a little slower overall. Nice to know what to chase later on. Still four more games in the series, plenty of chances to do that later on (testing the batters by batting first),” said South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said Anushka and Kranti come into the playing eleven in place of Renuka Singh Thakur and Kashvee Gautam, who have been rested for Sunday’s clash.

Anushka had a memorable maiden Women’s Premier League (WPL) stint this year, making 177 runs in seven games at an average of 25.28 and strike-rate of 129.19 for Gujarat Giants. She went on to make 116 runs in five innings at an average of 23.2 and strike-rate of 104.50 as India A won the Women’s Asia Cup Rising Stars title in Bangkok.

“We were thinking of bowling first. It’s a good surface. Batting first is also not a bad option. Had good discussions (over where we went wrong in first game). Batting wise we were okay, bowling plans we didn’t execute. It’s all about playing good cricket,” she said.

Sunday’s game also marks the 100th T20I appearance for opener Shafali Verma, who holds the record for being the youngest debutant for India women’s team in the shortest format. Shafali is now the third youngest player from any nation across men’s and women’s cricket to reach 100 T20I caps.

Playing XIs:

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Richa Ghosh (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Anushka Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Deepti Sharma, Sree Charani, and Kranti Gaud

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (captain), Sune Luus, Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Anneke Bosch, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Ayabonga Khaka, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba

–IANS

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