The Men in Blue, led by skipper KL Rahul, will be looking to get back to winning ways and seal the three-match series in their favour with a comfortable victory at the Boland Park Stadium in Paarl on Thursday. Rahul’s side had comprehensively beaten the Proteas in the first ODI thanks to the heroics of Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan, who helped restrict the hosts to a score of 117, which KL Rahul & Co managed to chase down easily in just under 17 overs.
In the second ODI, however, India’s batting failed to gain momentum and were restricted to 211 runs, which the Proteas chased down with 8 wickets to spare in less than 44 overs.
Going into the third ODI, the Indian team management will have plenty of questions to ponder, with the form of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma proving a cause for concern. Ruturaj, who opened the batting for India along with Sai Sudharsan, has failed to get going in the two matches so far with scores of 5 and 4 respectively. Meanwhile, Tilak Varma is yet to make an impact with the bat after being dismissed for 10 in the second ODI.
Another tough question for the team management could be whether to replace Sanju Samson at number 5. The Kerala-born opener did not get a chance to bat in the 1st ODI encounter, while he could only manage 12 runs in the 2nd ODI encounter.
India and South Africa squads:
India: KL Rahul (captain, WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Mihlali Mpongwana, Wiaan Mulder, Beuran Hendricks. Rassie van der Dussen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams, Kyle Verreynne
When and where to watch?
The 3rd ODI between India and South Africa will be played at the Boland Park Stadium in Paarl, with live coverage starting at 4:30 pm (Indian time). The series decider will be televised on the Star Sports network while the live stream of the match will be available on the Disney + Hotstar app and website.
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Published: 21 Dec 2023, 06:42 AM IST