THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fresh from their successful T20I campaign against Australia, Team India has arrived in the city to face off South Africa in the first of the three-match T20I series to be played at the Sports Hub, Greenfield Stadium, here on Wednesday.
The Rohit Sharma-led side arrived in the city from Hyderabad on Monday evening and was accorded a warm reception by the Kerala Cricket Association office-bearers, while hundreds of fans thronged the airport to have a glimpse of their stars.
The players arrived to a rousing welcome by the fans, who chanted their names and waved at them as the players boarded the team bus to move to the hotel. They will have their training sessions at the stadium under the floodlights on Tuesday 5pm to 8pm. Meanwhile, the South Africans led by their skipper Temba Bavuma went through their paces at the stadium under the lights on Monday.
The pre-match press conference of the South African skipper will be held at 12.30pm on Tuesday, while Indian skipper Rohit Sharma will address the media on Tuesday 4.30pm. The visitors will have their final training sessions on Tuesday from 1pm to 4pm. Meanwhile, Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj and team physio Craig Govender managed to squeeze in time and visited Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple on Monday.
This will be the fourth International cricket match to be played at the Sports Hub stadium. The maiden match was a T20I between India and New Zealand in November 2017 where the hosts won the contest by six runs. The second game was a limited-over match between India and the West Indies in November 2018 where India cruised to a nine-wicket win. The last contest, a T20I between India and West Indies in December 2019, saw the visitors turning the tables on the hosts as they eased to an eight-wicket win.As per the KCA, only 2000 tickets remain unsold.
Upper tier tickets cost Rs 1500, while pavilion ticket will cost Rs 2750. The KCA grand stand ticket, which includes food as well, is priced at Rs 6000. The KCA officials said the spectators should carry their ticket and photo ID for entering the stadium. Three tickets can be booked from a single e-mail id. The three tickets will have the name of the person, who had booked the tickets. Those using the tickets can produce their photo ID and enter the stadium. The tickets can be booked through www paytminsider.in. The ticket-related inquiries can be made via help@insider.in. Tickets can be booked via Akshaya centres as well.
Ganguly to be present
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly will be in the city to watch the match. He will arrive on Wednesday morning and will meet CM Pinarayi Vijayan at the Secretariat. Ganguly will also take part in the anti-drug campaign before leaving for the stadium.
VISITORS SHOULD CARRY TICKET AND PHOTO ID
The KCA officials said the spectators should carry their ticket and photo ID for entering the stadium. Three tickets can be booked from a single e-mail id. The three tickets will have the name of the person, who had booked the tickets. Those using the tickets can produce their photo ID and enter the stadium.