Team India suffered a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa in the first game of the five-T20I series in New Delhi on Thursday (June 9).

The Rishabh Pant-led side failed to defend the massive total of 211 as the visitors rode on brutal half-centuries from Rassie van der Dussen (75* off 46 balls) and David Miller (64* off 31 balls) to get over the line.

The match also saw the return of all-rounder Hardik Pandya and veteran better Dinesh Karthik to the Indian playing XI.

While Hardik slammed 31* off 12 balls and conceded 18 runs in the one over that he bowled, Karthik faced only two deliveries and stayed unbeaten on 1.

Ahead of the second T20I, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has opined that he would go with the same XI but insisted that the hosts could have opted to play Deepak Hooda, possibly in place of Karthik.

“Now that you have played Dinesh Karthik, you will continue with him. But I still feel you could have played Deepak Hooda, with the form he was in. Also, he is a youngster. But in the next matches, I don't think any changes are required to be done unless the wicket is extremely dry,” Gambhir said while talking about the combination on Star Sports.

He also suggested that if the wicket is dry, a third spinner in Ravi Bishnoi could be added to the playing XI.

“In that case, you can probably sit out a seamer and play the leg-spinner in Bishnoi and Hardik can be your third seamer. You will have two wrist-spinners as attacking options but if the ground is small and there is not much spin in the wicket, then you will probably see the same team,” Gambhir added.

The second T20I is slated to be held in Cuttack on Sunday (June 12).