Hosts seek fresh start after T20 loss

Sunday, October 11, 2015
Start time 0900 local (0330 GMT)

Both India and South Africa's ODI teams have suffered the same fate in the recent past: a first-ever series defeat to Bangladesh. They recovered with victories over Zimbabwe and New Zealand respectively but their difficulties against one of cricket's so-called smaller sides contained many similarities.

For India, Virat Kohli's form was in the spotlight. His scores of 1, 23 and 25 extended his run without an ODI fifty to 10 innings. For South Africa, Hashim Amla struggled for runs with scores of 14, 22 and 15 in Bangladesh to record his longest streak without an international fifty - seven innings.

Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar managed to take just five wickets between them in Bangladesh at an average of 42.6. Morne Morkel and Kyle Abbott fared even worse with just a single scalp at a cost of 126 runs. On that evidence, both India and South Africa were teams in trouble.

The difference is that while Kohli remains in a barren patch in ODIs, Amla scored a century in the immediate aftermath of that tour and while India's seamers are still looking for incisiveness, South Africa found Kagiso Rabada who was the leading wicket-taker in Bangladesh and has continued to impress on surfaces that are supposed to thwart him. On that evidence, South Africa seem to be getting out of trouble faster than India. Not that it really matters right now.

Fifty-over cricket remains a low-priority on the global stage at this time though, with the next World Cup four years away. There are more pressing matters coming up - the World T20 and before that, a four-Test series between these two teams.

So these five matches can almost be played without pressure but only almost. India have something to prove after their defeat in the T20 series, South Africa need to build some continuity in the format and there's no such thing as a game that does not matter to either side. Expect entertainment and intensity and maybe a bit of fun on the side.

(last five completed games, most recent first)
India WWWWL
South Africa WLWLL

Although South Africa are making a point of playing down the spin factor Imran Tahir's influence cannot be ignored. He is their leading bowler in ODI cricket this year with 30 wickets at 22.46 and has been both containing and attacking in the middle overs. But India's batsmen are not expected to treat him with the same tentativeness as other teams have so it will make for an interesting challenge to see how he deals with them.

After scores of 11 and 3 in the T20s, Shikhar Dhawan will be under pressure to perform and lay a solid platform at the start of the innings. He has history on his side in his quest to assert authority. Dhawan averages 65.75 against South Africa in four innings and has scored two centuries in big matches against them - in the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2015 World Cup.

India were looking to play Ajinkya Rahane in the third T20 but he may have to wait his turn if the hosts return to a familiar top order to kick things off in the ODI series. The same may apply to Amit Mishra, who could find himself benched in favour of Axar Patel. Umesh Yadav is likely to return to the attack.

India (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin , 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav

Quinton de Kock should make his return after being dropped in Bangladesh. De Kock will partner Amla at the top of the order and keep wicket to free AB de Villiers up to concentrate on batting and captaincy. South Africa may face a choice between an extra batsman at No. 7, which could be one of David Miller or Farhaan Behardien, or an allrounder in Chris Morris. Their premier pace pair of Dale Steyn and Morkel are back and the only question will be who they choose as a third seamer, with Rabada likely to edge out Abbott.

South Africa (probable) 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 and 7 Two out of David Miller/Farhaan Behardien/Chris Morris, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir

This is the only day game in the series which means teams will not have to worry about dealing with a white ball under lights, but they will be in the full glare of the sun. A scorching day is expected in Kanpur with temperatures set to reach 38 degrees and the heat could take its toll on the players. On inspecting the surface, de Villiers said it looked like a good wicket and he did not expect it to do anything out of the ordinary.

"We'll have a look at the wicket, we'll see how dry it is and what are the chances of it breaking up and assisting the spinners. But with no dew, the three-spinners option is definitely available to us."
MS Dhoni

"The series is not being seen around spinners. The pacers have won games for us mostly. We have a balanced bowling attack."
AB de Villiers