South Africa after winning the Test series by 2-1 is all set to eye on the ODI as well, while India might be aggressively waiting for revenge to be taken in the “blues”.
The pitch seems to be dry and the hosts know it better and luckily having won the toss opted to bat first and allow team India to chase the target. The focus was on team India as the squad looks fresh and also misses out on some experienced players. With “to-be-captain” Rohit being out of the ODIs, skipper Rahul takes the opportunity to lead as well as open with Dhawan. Shikhar Dhawan has lacked opportunities for a few months now and has a good chance to come back to his form, as the World Cup is near.
South Africa’s Quinton de Kock will be playing his first ODI after the retirement call from the Test format and captain Bavuma seems to be positive after winning the toss.
Both the team announced their team XI for the first ODI
India: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
South Africa: Quinton de Kock(w), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma(c), David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi
This will be Rahul’s first captaincy, having played just 38 ODI games before this, and is the next player after Mohinder Amarnath who has got the opportunity to lead team India before playing 50 ODIs. Rahul is also the third player after Syed Kirmani and Virender Sehwag to captain for team India, without leading in List A cricketing format.
With both the debutants – Venkatesh Iyer for team India and Marco Jansen for team South Africa are getting a chance to perform, it will be delightful to watch the first ODI. The match begins shortly with the host’s openers coming out to bat.
