With the T20 World Cup being the ultimate goal, India will look to continue to tick the remaining boxes in the five-match T20I series against South Africa, starting Tuesday at Barabati Cricket Stadium, Cuttack. The pitch curator has provided a red soil wicket for the first time in venue’s history and it is expected to be a run-paradise.

“Red soil,” said Suryakumar Yadav in the pre-match presser “And for the first time? I haven’t seen it (the pitch) yet – didn’t get a chance to go down. I think it should be good. Black soil would have been better, but I feel the red soil will also play well. A red-soil wicket can be quick too. Let’s see. If it’s fast, that’s good,” the India skipper analysed.

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Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav needs three more fours to reach 250 boundaries in the shortest format.

Tilak Varma needs four runs to complete 1000 runs in T20Is.

Sanju Samson needs five runs to complete 1000 runs in T20Is.

Jasprit Bumrah needs one wicket to complete 100 scalps in T20Is. He will become the second Indian bowler to reach the milestone after Arshdeep Singh.

Varun Chakravarthy needs five wickets to complete 50 scalps in T20Is.

Aiden Markram needs 33 runs to complete 1500 runs in T20Is.

Reeza Hendricks needs 17 runs to reach the 2500-run mark in T20Is.

India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar

South Africa T20I squad: Aiden Markram (captain), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tristan Stubbs.