India eyeing a fresh start; South Africa looking to ride on momentum

South Africa vs India, first ODI
Boland Park, Paarl
19 January, 10:30 am local

Even though India are coming into this ODI series on the back of a loss in the Test leg of the tour, they are still going into this match as the favourites owing to the superior quality of their side. The visitors have a good blend of youth and experience in every department. While the batting unit has veterans like Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan to go with young guns like Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, the bowling contingent has seasoned campaigners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to guide youngsters like Mohammed Siraj and others.

But it's going to be a new challenge for KL Rahul, who will be the stand-in captain in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. Rahul has established himself as one of the best all-format batters for India in the last couple of years. He had a good Test series where he finished as India's highest run-scorer and will be looking to carry that form forward into this ODI leg now.

South Africa, on the other hand, are high on confidence after they made a comeback from behind to win the Test series 2-1. However, there is no room for complacency as they are up against one of the strongest white-ball sides in the world right now. Temba Bavuma played a crucial role with the bat in the Tests and he will be looking to make an equal impact in this series, with the added responsibility of leading the side as well.

Quinton de Kock also returns after he decided to retire from the red-ball format midway into the series against the visitors. However, they have been dealt with a major blow as their ace-pacer Kagiso Rabada has been released from the squad owing to a high workload over a sustained period of time. No replacement has been named yet, but the Proteas still have a strong pace-bowling unit with the likes of Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi featuring in it.

Sisanda Magala and Wayne Parnell are two other pace-bowling options they have while the likes of Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius add all-round value too. With home conditions in their favour, the hosts will be looking to put the visitors under pressure straight away, but the Indian side isn't going to make it easy for them considering the quality they have in their ranks.

The 2017/18 tour was the last time India played an ODI series in South Africa and it turned out to be quite a one-sided affair as the visitors completely outclassed the hosts by a 5-1 scoreline. India had lost the Test series in a similar fashion during that tour as well and came back to dominate the ODI leg. They will be looking to deliver a similar performance now to give their fans something to cheer for after losing the Tests in a disappointing manner again.

It was the Indian spinners and Virat Kohli, who overcame the South African side collectively in the ODIs last time. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 33 wickets between themselves while Kohli amassed 558 runs at a mind-boggling average of 186. He made three hundreds in that series as the Proteas completely failed to counter him. It remains to be seen which way the series goes this time.

Temba Bavuma (South Africa Captain): "Considering Paarl and the conditions there - it's a lot different to our Highveld wickets - it's on the lower side; a bit skiddier. We'll consider pace bowlers who can exploit that, like Lungi (Ngidi), (Sisanda) Magala and Marco Jansen," Bavuma said. "And then Paarl is quite friendly to slower bowlers and spinners so (Tabraiz) Shamsi, (Keshav) Maharaj and (George) Linde all come into the picture."

KL Rahul (India Captain):"We practised a couple of days at Boland Park and the pitch does look like it might offer a lot more for spinners than what we got in the Test series," Rahul said. "We have quality spinners. Ashwin is coming back into the one-day team and we all know what quality he brings in. Chahal has been doing it for years now and he has been a great performer for us. If there's any assistance from the pitch, I know that these two will really exploit it."