LIVE: South Africa v India, 1st ODI – Wednesday, 19 January

The high-adrenaline Test series ended 2-1 in favour of South Africa leaving India bruised and battered.

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The teams now move to the Western Cape for a three-match ODI series starting with the first ODI at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday, 19 January.

There are a number of changes in both the teams including at the helm, but South Africa will hope that skipper Temba Bavuma and Marco Jansen.

The Proteas have a score to settle too, having lost to India 5-1 in the 2018 ODI series.

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However, they come into this series on the back of indifferent form having lost their recent series to Pakistan (home) and Sri Lanka (away) 2-1.

Sandwiched in between those was a 1-1 drawn series in Ireland and the pre-series indicators are not too encouraging.

India endured a lot of turbulence – on and off the field – as the aftermath of the Test series loss took its toll.

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Virat Kohli gave up the Test captaincy, although he remains part of this ODI team to be led by KL Rahul in the absence of their new regular captain Rohit Sharma.

While Rahul has shown his mettle leading the Punjab Kings in the IPL, his stock in the international format is yet to be built and he has already captained the visitors to a loss in the second Test.

The 2018 series win (5-1) was their first win in Mzansi and incidentally forms 50% of their total wins in ODIs they have played here (W10, L22, NR 2).

India boast an unbeaten record at the venue (W2, T1) but don’t blame younger fans if they can’t recall any of those matches as they were played between 1997 and 2003.

Players to watch

Not even Janneman Malan would have predicted that he would end 2021 as an ICC ODI player of the year nominee. With 509 runs in eight matches (Avg. 84.83, 2×100, 2×50), he was also their highest run scorer in the previous two series. His opposite number Shikhar Dhawan will have to make up for the absence of his regular partner, Rohit Sharma, and score runs in tonnes. He has 2x50s and 1×100 in his last five innings played in South Africa.

Stat attack

– The average first innings score at this venue across the last six ODIs is 272.

– South Africa have won six of the seven ODIs they have played here including three in a row.

– Quinton de Kock has three 100+ scores in five home innings vs India and has scored five of 16 career ODI 100s against them.

– Yuzvendra Chahal has taken over 1.5 wickets in five of his six matches in South Africa. He has been India’s highest wicket-taker (alone or joint) in three of his last six matches against them anywhere.

– India have lost six of their last nine away ODIs.

– An Indian batter has ended as the top-scorer of the match in the last six matches against South Africa.

PROTEAS ODI SQUAD VS INDIA

Temba Bavuma (captain), Keshav Maharaj (Dolphins), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper, Titans), Zubayr Hamza (Western Province), Marco Jansen (Warriors), Janneman Malan (Paarl Rocks), Sisanda Magala (Lions), Aiden Markram (Titans), David Miller (Dolphins), Lungi Ngidi (Titans), Wayne Parnell (Western Province), Andile Phehlukwayo (Dolphins), Dwaine Pretorius (Dragons), George Linde (Western Province), Tabraiz Shamsi (Titans), Rassie van der Dussen (Lions), Kyle Verreynne (Western Province).

Schedule

Wednesday, 19 January, 1st ODI, Boland Park, Paarl – 10:30

Friday, 21 January, 2nd ODI, Boland Park, Paarl – 10:30

Sunday, 23 January, 3rd ODI, Newlands, Cape Town – 10:30

NOTE: If the live scoring below does not display, please click HERE