11 March 2020, by: CricXtasy

India v South Africa: First ODI Preview

There’s just one topic going around all over the world and that is coronavirus. It’s had a huge impact on everything. However, it hasn’t had any major impact on cricket as of now. South Africa’s tour to India for a three-match ODI series is expected to go on as scheduled. But there are quite a few things to note and the South African team has been given quite a few precautions. Moreover, the customary handshakes will not take place either.

But let’s shift the focus back to cricket for now. South Africa toured India back in September-October last year for three T20Is and as many Test matches. Hence, they are now in India only for the ODI series which kicks off on the 12 March in Dharamsala.

India  are coming off on the back of a 0-3 white-wash in New Zealand. However, they have three of their big ODI guns back in the side. Hardik Pandya returns to the side to provide some much-needed balance while Shikhar Dhawan returns to the top of the order. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also seems to have recovered completely. These three are expected to slot in straight away while there might just be a toss-up between Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. The latter made his ODI debut in New Zealand but failed to convert his starts and Gill has been on the sidelines for a while now and will be hoping to get a game.

With the form that Shreyas Iyer (217 runs in New Zealand) and KL Rahul (204 runs in New Zealand) have shown, India’s middle-order woes seem to have put to bed at least for the moment. Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t been at his best and went wicketless in the ODI series in New Zealand and his form will be monitored closely. Even Virat Kohli has hit a rut as he scored just 218 runs on the entire tour of New Zealand. Hence, India will hope their big guns are backfiring on all cylinders.

As far as the Proteas  are concerned, they are coming into this series high on confidence. They won their first bilateral series since March 2019 and white-washed Australia 3-0 in the ODI series. Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen return to the side to bolster the batting department. George Linde has also been called up given the conditions in India. The rest of the side remains the same.

They will have a problem of plenty. Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan and Kyle Verreynne were all impressive in the ODI series against Australia. The former two even scored tons and got 242 and 152 runs at averages of 242.00 and 76.00 respectively in that series. David Miller’s form has been encouraging as well. With him striking the ball beautifully, South Africa are shaping up to be a dominant side potentially. They seem to now have a gun batting order and also, seem to be decent with the ball despite the absence of premier fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.

The Proteas have a good record against India and have won 46 out of the 84 ODIs against them overall. However, India have had the better of them in the recent past. Since the start of 2017, the Proteas have won just one out of eight ODIs.

The last time South Africa were in India for an ODI series, they won 3-2 but that was a completely different side altogether. India beat South Africa 5-1 the last time they were in South Africa. Thus, with India more or less struggling and South Africa finding some new confidence, this promises to be an enthralling series.

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lundi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lundi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan

KL Rahul: The Karnataka lad has been in smashing form . He’s relished the new role of batting at No. 5 and donning the gloves. Rahul has been very good behind the stumps and has adapted to the No. 5 role beautifully. He scored a ton and a fifty while amassing 204 runs in three innings. His strike-rate was 110.27. Hence, at No. 5, he will be a key player.

Virat Kohli: The Indian skipper  has had a rough phase and just hasn’t been able to get runs. In 11 innings in New Zealand, Kohli got just fifty and no hundreds. He struggled quite a bit. The Delhi lad has gone 22 innings without an international ton. Hence, he will be looking to roar back into form and will definitely be one of the key players to watch out for.

Quinton de Kock: The new South African skipper loves batting against India . He has a wonderful record not only against India but also in India. Overall, de Kock has scored 784 runs at an average of 60.31 against the ‘Men in Blue’. Out of which, 318 runs came in India in 2015. The Proteas wicket-keeper captain has struck five ODI tons against them as well.

Lungi Ngidi: The 23-year-old South African fast bowler  has been brilliant in the recent past. Be it T20Is or ODIs, Ngidi has stepped up and bowled beautifully. He picked up 13 wickets across six T20Is against England and Australia before returning with figures of 3/30 and 6/58 in the two ODIs he played against the Aussies. In the absence of Rabada, Ngidi will be leading the Proteas pace attack and will be a key man in that line-up.

Only four ODIs have been played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. Three of them have been won by the teams batting second. Moreover, it is not a typical high-scoring venue. The average score batting first after four ODIs is 214.

It usually has help for the fast bowlers and there is some nip in this surface. Dharamsala is hosting an ODI for the first time since December 2017. In fact, in that game, India were shot out for a mere 112 and Sri Lanka chased it down with ease.

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