India will be looking to bounce back as they take on South Africa in the second ODI of the three-match series in Ranchi on Sunday, October 9.
The hosts lost the first ODI by a narrow margin of nine runs and now they will be looking to put the disappointment of that defeat behind to focus on winning this contest.
Match Preview
The performance in the first ODI suggests that India have a lot to improve in many areas. The performance of the top-order was pretty disappointing during the chase, they need to take more responsibility in this match. The likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan looked awful during their stay at the crease and one of them could make way for Rajat Patidar in this match.
As far as the bowling goes, Mohammed Siraj and Ravi Bishnoi turned out to be pretty expensive in the pace and spin departments respectively. India also struggled with batting depth in the last match and that’s why Shahbaz Ahmed might make his debut in place of Ravi Bishnoi.
Things for South Africa, however, are much more simpler. Although the top-order couldn’t do that well, they can take consolation from the fact that those were pretty tough batting conditions. Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller carried their rich vein of form forward in the last match and they would want to do the same here. The bowlers performed mostly well. Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Wayne Parnell were very economical and picked up wickets as well.
Although Lungi Ngidi was a bit expensive, he gave South Africa three important breakthroughs. Only Tabraiz Shamsi’s performance came out as a concern as he conceded 89 runs in his eight overs. The Proteas will be backing him to do much better in this contest and they are expected to go in with the same playing XI.
Possible Playing XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan
South Africa
Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
Key Players
Sanju Samson
The wicketkeeper-batter has been in excellent batting form of late. He was adjudged as the Player of the Series during the unofficial ODIs against New Zealand A and he played an unbeaten knock of 86 in the previous match as well.
David Miller
The middle-order batter has been in a rich vein of form this year. Miller scored a century in the T20I leg of this tour and followed that up with a brilliant knock of 75 in the last match.
Prediction
Although this is a second string Indian side, they showed that they have the ability to compete with the South African team as they fell just nine runs short of the target in the first ODI. India are expected to come up with much better team balance in this match with some different personnel. That’s why the hosts can be backed to ace this contest this time.
