27 degrees of separation for South Africa in India

South Africans and sunshine are hardly strangers, but Delhi has dazzled, dehydrated and desiccated Temba Bavuma and his squad ahead of their series of five T20Is against India that starts in the capital on Thursday.

"We expected it to be hot, but not this hot," Bavuma told a press conference on Wednesday, when the temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius. "We're fortunate that the games are being played at night, when it's bearable. During the day guys are trying to look after themselves as much as possible and drinking a lot more water than the normal beer they drink at home. [They're trying] to just keep as mentally fresh as they can."

The heat had already soared past 40 degrees when the South Africans arrived at 9.30am (IST) on Thursday. It rose to 47 in the hours that followed. Since then, the recorded high has not been lower than 45. The forecast says it will be 43 when the teams take the field at 7pm (IST) on Thursday, when 47 is the apex.

A smidgen of rain - 0.1 millimetres, or not enough to fill a thimble - is predicted for Saturday, but so is a high of 46. By then, the teams will have journeyed 1,260 kilometres to the east for Sunday's match in Cuttack - where the temperature is set to peak at 40 degrees on match day, the lowest it's been there this month. It is set to climb to 48 on Saturday, when the players will complete their preparations for the second T20I. And to think Bavuma and his players jetted out of Johannesburg with the mercury reading 19. Compared with Wednesday's wave of warmth, that's 27 degrees of separation.

"It's not something we're used to at home," Bavuma said. "Cramping, hydration and fatiguing are big things. You can only get used to it by actually playing in this type of heat." His advice to his players was to "hydrate yourself as much as you can, manage your energies as much as you can, try and recover as well as you can in and around the games." Because, hot or not, there's a match to be won: "Once you're in the game you've got to try and stay in the battle, and hopefully your body keeps up with everything."

But the visitors had familiarised themselves with other elements of the conditions: "We got to play a practice game on one of the side wickets. [The bounce] was a bit lower than what we're used to back home, but it didn't really spin more than it stopped. It felt like it got better to bat on as the night went on."

The series will mark the first time the teams have met since January, when South Africa won a home ODI series 3-0 after rallying from losing the first of three intensely contested Tests to claim that rubber 2-1.

South Africa have won and drawn their two previous bilateral T20I series in India, and would seem to have a good chance of adding to their successes. They have arrived with a full strength squad, but India have rested Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, who played in all of their teams' IPL fixtures. On Wednesday, KL Rahul - who was to have stood in for Sharma as captain - and Kuldeep Yadav were added to an injury list that had already featured Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar and Suryakumar Yadav. Rishabh Pant will now lead the home side.

But Bavuma knew he wasn't in Kansas anymore: "We were able to get the better of India a few months ago, but these are different looking guys. There's a lot of younger, fresher faces in the team, guys who have a big point to prove, guys who would like to stake a claim for their position in the Indian team. We won't be expecting anything easy. We're not here thinking everything is going to happen the same way as it did in South Africa. We know we're going to have to play good cricket."

And drink plenty of water. Not beer.