Time: January 19, 2 PM IST
Venue: Boland Park, Paarl
Pitch Report
The boundaries are small and the pitch is slow. The Boland Park has the perfect ingredients for a high-scoring game.
Teams
With Aiden Markram slated at No. 4, Rassie van der Dussen will have to bat lower than usual.
Probable XI for South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
The stand-in captain KL Rahul hinted at including Venkatesh Iyer in the mix: he is the ideal sixth bowling option India have been looking for. That, however, leads us to an interesting question: will India play both Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav or only one of them?
Probable XI for India: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav/Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer/Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Fantasy Tips
We have opted for a fantasy cricket team based on the recent performances, overall impact, and credit points.
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Power Players
In India’s previous tour of South Africa, Virat Kohli scored 558 runs at an average of 186 and strike rate of 99.4, including 3 hundreds and a fifty in 6 innings. It was a special series for him: he became the first player to score 500 runs in an ODI bilateral series, and one of the hundreds and the only fifty that he scored came without any boundary. If you think Kohli has been out of form in ODIs, let us remind you that ever since his last hundred in August 2019, he has managed 8 fifties in 15 innings – 4 of which have come in the last 5 innings.
Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada rank No. 10 in the ICC ODI Rankings for batters and bowlers respectively – the only South African in the top 10. De Kock has incredible numbers against India: in a mere 13 matches, he has collected 5 hundreds and a fifty, averaging a whopping 60.3. Meanwhile, Rabada displayed exceptional bowling performances in the Test series. With 20 wickets at 19.05, he finished as the highest wicket-taker.
Shikhar Dhawan likes feeding on the South African bowlers. He has scored 798 runs at an impressive average of 50, smashing 3 hundreds and as many fifties. In the same series that Kohli made records, he was the second-highest run-scorer.
Smart Picks
Yuzvendra Chahal was in top form on the 2018 tour, scalping 16 wickets at 16.3.
Tabraiz Shamsi was the joint-highest wicket-taker in T20Is in 2021. His 36 wickets came at an average of 13.3 and an economy of 5.7.
While India boast of Jasprit Bumrah as their strike bowler, South Africa have Lungi Ngidi for breakthroughs. More importantly, both bowl at the death, that is, when batters gift away easy wickets. There’s some easy fantasy points to grab.
Match Prediction
India have won 8 of their last 10 ODIs against South Africa. South Africa too have some numbers in their favour: they have won 6 of their 7 ODIs at the venue, although none of which are against India. India seem ahead in the race, but we witnessed what happened in the Test series.
