Although the one-off T20I match is not a part of the series that South Africa will play in New Zealand this year, the importance of the match on Friday (February 17) is no less. Kane Williamson's army is up against Faf du Plessis' terrific side in the Twenty20 game in Auckland.
Following this match, the South Africa tour of New Zealand 2017 gets under way on Sunday (Feb 19); the two sides engage in five ODIs and three Test matches.
READ: World cricket calendar 2017.
The absence of Martin Guptill, however, is a major blow for the Black Caps ahead of the series. Guptill, a key member of the Kiwi batting lineup, was forced to pull out of the T20I game as well as the first two ODI matches owing to a hamstring injury.
He is being replaced by uncapped 20-year-old Glenn Phillips for Friday's T20I, while Dean Brownlie will cover up for Guptill in the two ODIs.
While everything else is expected to remain in place and with the star AB de Villiers also available for the Proteas, there is a major doubt over the fate of the match as rain forecast looms large. A heavy downpour also ruined the practice session for the teams on Thursday (Feb 16).
"We want to hit the ground running tomorrow [Friday] night. It's a shame about the build-up and the weather, but we've been in camp for a while and every team has been playing a huge amount of cricket so nice to come off a little break," Williamson said in the pre-match presser.
Match schedule
Date: February 17
Time: 7pm local time (6am GMT, 11:30am IST)
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Where to watch live
| Country | TV channel | Live streaming |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport 1 | Sky Go |
| South Africa | SuperSport | SuperSport |
| UK | Sky Sports 2 HD | Sky Network |
India: No telecast.
Live score: Twitter.
