India vs South Africa Second ODI 2018 Preview: Resurgent India Look to go 2-0 up Against Proteas Minus Faf Du Plessis
It will be interesting to see the South African side coping up without du Plessis and de Villers in the second ODI. Will they be able to stage a comeback in the series?
India won the First One-Day International (ODI) against South Africa in the six-match ODI series comprehensively. Skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane played tremendously to drive the Proteas out of the first match and have set the tone of the series. India will play South Africa in the second ODI on February 4th at 01.30 p.m. at Centurion. Will India go 2-0 up in the series or will South Africa be able to make it 1-1 at the end of the day?
Much was talked about India’s spinners before the first ODI and the horrors of wrist-spin only haunted the Proteas. To add to it, South African skipper Faf du Plessis is now ruled out of the India tour, as he along with AB de Villiers is nursing a finger injury.
Aiden Markram, who will be only playing in his third ODI on Sunday, has been appointed as the stand-in skipper. The move comes in accordance with South Africa’s preparation for the World Cup next year. As for India, there are no injury concerns and the Indian camp will like to field the same set of 11 players.
It will get tougher for South Africa to face the duo of Yuzvendra Chahal & Kuldeep Yadav in the second ODI, as both their middle-order mainstays are now out of the playing XI. South Africa will be banking heavily on Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock to reach a par-score.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan would be looking forward to prove their place in the side; both the openers had a below-average outing in the first ODI. India excelled in all the three departments – bowling, batting, and fielding – whereas South Africa, despite putting a disciplined batting effort, couldn’t get past the form of Kohli and class of Ajinkya Rahane.
India’s likely XI:
1. Rohit Sharma, 2. Shikhar Dhawan, 3. Virat Kohli (c), 4. Ajinkya Rahane, 5. MS. Dhoni (wk), 6. Kedar Jadhav, 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Kuldeep Yadav, 9. Yuzvendra Chahal, 10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11. Jasprit Bumrah.
On the bench: Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Shami.
South Africa’s likely XI:
1. Aiden Markram (c), 2. Quinton de Kock, 3. Hashim Amla, 4. Jean-Paul Duminy, 5. Khaya Zondo, 6. David Miller, 7. Chris Morris, 8. Imran Tahir, 9. Morne Morkel, 10. Andile Phehlukwayo, 11. Kagiso Rabada.
On the bench: Lungisani Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Faf du Plessis, and AB De Villiers.
It will be interesting to see the South African side coping up without du Plessis and de Villers in the second ODI. Will they be able to stage a comeback in the series? Or will the Men in Blue look to continue their winning run and be able to push for another win? We will have to wait till Sunday for the exciting contest.
The match will be telecasted LIVE on Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3. The Live Streaming of the second ODI will be on Sony LIV. Stay tuned for many such updates about India vs South Africa ODI series.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 03, 2018 10:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).