India and South Africa will lock horns in the final ODI of the three-match series in Delhi on Tuesday, October 11.
The series is level on 1-1 currently after India’s comprehensive win in the second ODI and an exciting battle is on the cards as the two teams take each other on once again in the series decider.
Match Preview
India made some important changes in the last match and got the rewards straightaway. They brought in Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravi Bishnoi respectively to aid team balance and improve batting depth. The bowlers did a pretty good job to restrict the Proteas to 278/3 in their 50 overs. Although India got off to a shaky start with the bat, an in-form Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan took charge of things and powered India home safely. The hosts will be eager to dominate in the same way in the series decider once again.
As far as things for South Africa go, they put on an impressive batting show once again. Their bowlers didn’t do anything wrong either, but they were outclassed by a superior Indian batting performance. All they need to do now is keep their faith in themselves and give it their best shot in the final match. They lost the T20 leg of this tour but they will definitely want to board the flight to Australia on the back of a morale-boosting ODI series win.
Possible Playing XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan
South Africa
Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj (c), Bjorn Fortuin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
Key Players
Shreyas Iyer
The middle-order batter has been in superb form in this series. Iyer has scores of 50 and 113* to his name in the two matches so far, and he will be eager to deliver once again.
David Miller
The southpaw has been in excellent form across all formats this year. Miller has scores
Prediction
India struck the right balance with their playing XI in the last match and they look much more balanced as a team now. They will start as the favourites to win this match again.
