The one-day series between South Africa and India begins with the first match at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on 17 December. The home team are known to do quite well in this format and can be expected to strongly challenge the visitors.
India come into this game on the back of reaching the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which they eventually lost to Australia. Since then, they have not played a single game in the 50-over format despite having taken part in two Twenty20 bilateral series against Australia and the hosts.
India's one day game has come a long way from what it was in the late 2010s. It allowed them to gain footholds into enemy territory, no matter where they traveled. The new think tank, consisting of skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, has given players the freedom to play their own game without being burdened too much with responsibilities.
South Africa, for their part, had a fantastic time in the World Cup, and were expected to contest for the title. Yet, their chokers tag remained intact as they were beaten by eventual winners Australia in a low-scoring match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the semifinal.
This, however, means that they are in fine fettle, and despite Quinton de Kock's retirement, they will pose a serious threat to India, who are arguably the finest one-day team in the world at the moment. Aiden Markram's side will want to focus more upon themselves than get carried away by the challenges that India pose to them.
Probable Playing XIs
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (c) (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger.
Key Players
KL Rahul: Wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul returns as India's skipper in this one-day series. He will be expected to play a crucial role for his team. Rahul is a classy and elegant batsman, and his presence in the middle-order will give a lot of strength to the Indian side.
Aiden Markram: South Africa's skipper Aiden Markram is also one of their key players. He is known to be one of the best batsmen in the Proteas lineup. His ability to play spin and pace equally well allows him to adapt on most surfaces that he gets to play upon. He has been a consistent player for South Africa for a long time.
Match Prediction
India will start as the favourites to win this game despite their indifferent form in the T20I series that preceded this one. South Africa will do their best to make use of the bouncy surface at the Wanderers by bringing on as many seamers as possible and attack the Indian lineup. The latter, for their part, have quite a few top fast bowlers who can make use of this surface as well. The Men in Blue have the upper hand.