Test of strength in depth as Proteas face India in Durban

South Africa and India will both be testing their strength in depth when they meet in two white-ball series, starting with a Twenty20 international at Kingsmead in Durban on Sunday.

Three T20 matches will be followed by three one-day internationals during a tour which is a financial lifesaver for Cricket South Africa (CSA).

The cash-strapped hosts stand to earn in excess of a billion rand ($53 million), mainly from TV rights, which is far in excess of income from any other incoming tours.

"It will obviously help us balance the books but it is not just us, every country needs India, purely based on the broadcast revenues," said Pholetsi Moseki, chief executive of CSA.

Both teams will be without key players for the white-ball games, ahead of two World Test Championship matches later in the tour.

South Africa's one-day and Test captain Temba Bavuma and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will miss all the limited overs matches.

Fast bowlers Gerald Coetzee, Marco Jansen will play only in the first two T20 internationals before returning to their franchises to play in domestic four-day cricket ahead of the Tests.

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Regular Indian captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli will also miss the limited overs games, while recent T20 captain Hardik Pandya is injured.

Suryakumar Yadav, fresh from leading India to a 4-1 T20 home series win against Australia, will captain the T20 side while KL Rahul will be in charge for the one-day matches.

T20 squads

South Africa: Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo,