SA vs IND 1st ODI: PREVIEW

After an enthralling, high-intensity Test series, we now move onto the ODIs. Nobody gave the hosts a chance after the 1st Test, but as we say "Never write off anyone in sport", the Proteas came back hard and how !! Two back to back gritty run chases. We expect this contest to be on the same level in One-Days.

South Africa has a good crop of white ball talent growing through their ranks. Although their last ODI series win came 2 years ago, they showed enough promise against Pakistan and Sri Lanka last year.

India, on the other hand, are playing an ODI series after 6 months. After convincingly beating England and Sri Lanka last year, they will look to continue their run in SA like their last outing here in 2018, where they beat the Proteas comprehensively by 5-1.

Probable XI

India: Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kohli, Shreyas, Suryakumar, Pant, Venkatesh, Thakur, Bhuvi, Bumrah, Chahal 

South Africa: de Kock, Malan, Bavuma, Markram, Dussen, Miller, Pretorius, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi, Shamsi

Key Players

India

Virat Kohli: "An out of form" Kohli has 8 fifties in his last 13 innings. He had his career's best outing last time here in 2018 where he scored 558 runs at a staggering average of 186 with 3 centuries.

KL Rahul: He has flourished in his new role as no. 5 batsman in the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see if he opens or continues to play at 5. He hasn't looked back since he was given a run in the middle order at Rajkot vs Australia in 2020. He has 493 runs at an average of 61.6 in his last 10 ODI outings.

Jasprit Bumrah: He did not pick many wickets in 2018, but made sure he tightened the screws in powerplay. India's bowling in the 50-over format has been a major concern since 2020. They had picked only 1 wicket (Labuschagne) in 6 Powerplays of the entire New Zealand and Australia series.

South Africa
Janneman Malan: He has had a dream start to his ODI career and is rightly nominated for ODI player of the Year award by ICC. His ODI career average is 82.7 in 10 innings and has 2 centuries in his last 5 games including an unbeaten 177 against Ireland.

David Miller: His form has been blowing hot and cold for a while but he plays a difficult role at no 6. One of those rare batters who average 40+  and strike at over 100 in the 50-over format. Since 2020, he has 4 fifties in the 8 innings he played.

Quinton de Kock: de Kock is easily the best and the most experienced batsman in South Africa squad. A lot will depend on the starts provided by him alongside Malan. Has a century in the last ODI he played in July, 2021 against Ireland. 

Head to Head

Overall: South Africa leads 46-35
In SA: South Africa leads 22-10
Last 10 HTHs: India lead 8-2

Match Ups
(in ODIs)

India
Kohli vs Rabada: 109 runs for 2 dismissals
Kohli vs Ngidi: 78 runs for no dismissals
Dhawan vs Rabada: 127 runs for 4 dismissals
Shreyas vs Ngidi: 14 runs for 2 dismissals

South Africa
De Kock vs Bhuvi: 151 runs for no dismissals
De Kock vs Chahal: 10 runs for 2 dismissals
Miller vs Chahal: 45 runs for 3 dismissals
Markram vs Bumrah: 19 runs for 2 dismissals

Indians vs Right arm Pacers
(since SA has Rabada, Ngidi, Phehlukwayo, Pretorius, Magala)

Virat Kohli: Avg 55, SR 92
Shikhar Dhawan: Avg 49, SR 92
KL Rahul: Avg 55, SR 90
Shreyas Iyer: Avg 31, SR 94
Rishabh Pant: Avg 29, SR 110
 

Dream XI Team