Watch: Indian players and coach Gautam Gambhir visit Shri Jaganath Temple before IND vs SA 1st T20I

Ahead of the opening T20I of the five-match series against South Africa at home, Indian players and their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, visited the Shri Jaganath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Tuesday to seek blessings. The match is scheduled to take place on December 09 at the Barabati Cricket Stadium in Cuttack as the Blue Brigade looks to start their last-minute preparation for the T20 World Cup 2026.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav, accompanied by his wife Devisha Shetty and batter Tilak Varma, was among the players who took part in the visit to the temple. The squad entered the premises amidst the heavy security as the fans gathered in large numbers for the occasion.

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India didn’t do well in the two-match Test series to start the trip of the South Africa side. They lost the opening clash by 30 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata before facing another massive defeat by 408 runs in the second red-ball clash at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The Blue Brigade faced their second home whitewash in Tests in the last three attempts.

Watch: Indian players and coach take blessings from Shri Jaganath Temple

India have welcomed their two superstars, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya, back into the squad. The former was out of the Test and ODI series due to a neck injury, while Pandya returns to action for the first time since the group-stage clash against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2025.

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“The preparation for the T20 World Cup started after the T20 World Cup of 2024 was over. Because in any big tournament, you cannot think that the tournament is here and the preparation has started. When we give exams in school, it is not like we try to study everything in the last four days. We study for a year or two.” Sky expressed in the pre-match press conference.

The eyes will also be on Suryakumar Yadav, who has struggled with the bat in recent times. The captaincy has been a factor for him as he will aim to be in his beast mode ahead of the next year’s home T20 World Cup.