The State of Play
It’s fair to say South Africa haven’t enjoyed themselves against India across 50 overs lately.
The Proteas were bowled out for 116 – their lowest ever home total in One-Day Internationals – as they made a miserable start to the teams’ three-match series on Sunday, suffering their fourth straight ODI defeat to India since last October.
On Tuesday, the action moves from Johannesburg to Gqeberha as Aiden Markram’s team bid to avoid a fourth home series defeat in ODIs since April 2021.
A treacherous pitch did not help the Proteas last time out and more even conditions are expected for the second contest, but they must improve with the bat after being demolished by the Indian attack in each of the teams’ last three meetings.
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South Africa have been bowled out for 99, 83 and 116 in their last three matches against India, who saw young pacers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan take nine wickets between them on Sunday as the team won their first 50-over outing since losing the World Cup final.
Debutant Sai Sudharsan made an eye-catching half-century in a short innings after being brought in to open, and stand-in captain KL Rahul will be looking for more of the same from the 22-year-old on Tuesday.
However, at a slow venue which has gone 12 years without an ODI score of 300, it could all come down to how both sides use the ball. After tearing through their hosts in quick time in the opener, can India complete the job with a game to spare?
Emotions of making his #TeamIndia debut ☺️
That solid partnership with vice-captain @ShreyasIyer15 💪
What it means to his family seeing him play international cricket 👏@sais_1509 shares it all in this post-match interaction 👌 👌 – By @RajalArora #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/Rptsrt71Wi— BCCI (@BCCI) December 18, 2023
What they said
South Africa batting coach DP Duminy on the first ODI:
“When you are trying to build a style of play, you are potentially going to have those contrasting experiences. That’s where the learning happens. That’s the journey for us.
“When it’s good, we are really good. When conditions are good we can score 400, but how do we still find our way to 280 on a tough wicket? That’s the question for us.
“I’ve got no doubt, come Tuesday, that we’ll be putting up a big performance, no matter what we have to do first.”
Rahul on how India fared without key players in the opener:
“There is a lot of cricket being played these days. You have to prioritise formats and at the moment it is Test cricket and T20s. That is the modern-day game, but we believe whoever is here will perform for their country.
“We had planned to bring the spinners into the game early after what we saw in the T20 match, but there was a lot of help in the wicket and the boys did really well to put the ball into the right areas.”
Scalping a 5⃣-wicket haul, Arshdeep Singh was on a roll with the ball & bagged the Player of the Match award as #TeamIndia won the first #SAvIND ODI. 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/tHxu0nUwwH pic.twitter.com/tkmDbXOVtg
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2023
Team News
South Africa are expected to field spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi as they plot the best route of attack on the Gqeberha surface. With the bat, Reeza Hendricks must give a better account of himself after falling for an eight-ball duck on Sunday.
India will be without Shreyas Iyer as he leaves to join up with the Test team, and Rajat Patidar is the favourite to replace him. That should be the tourists’ only change as the youngsters get another chance to impress.
Expected line-ups
South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Wiaan Mulder, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi.
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (c), Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar.
When and how to watch
The entirety of the ODI series is being shown live by Sky Sports in the UK. With Tuesday’s day-night match getting underway at 11:00 UK time, coverage begins on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket at 10:30, later resuming on Sky Sports Main Event at 16:30.
Prediction
While South Africa will be determined to keep the series alive for Thursday’s final ODI in Paarl, it’s difficult to look past an India team which has enjoyed plenty of success against the Proteas lately.
Though the loss of Iyer will be felt after he joined Sudharsan in making 50 in the opener, expect India to deepen the hosts’ woes by wrapping up the series, with the tourists’ attack impressing again.
INDIA WIN THE FIRST ODI
A tough outing for the Proteas as India take a 1-0 lead in the series 🏏
See you in Gqeberha #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/zgQgKW26Ho
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) December 17, 2023
