 After a superb clashing at Eden Garden to end the series on winning note, India will now eye an ODI series win to maintain their number two ICC ranking in the ODI. A loss in the ODI series for India by 2-1 or 3-0 will allow South Africa to take number two position in One day international ranking. After a one sided victory for both teams in the two match test series, it is expected to be close fought ODI series despite of some of the key players missing from Indian line ups. India will miss the services of Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan in this series while Harbhajan Singh will only take part in the last one day international. However the return of Sachin Tendulkar, who opted out of the tri-series in Bangladesh, has brought back some smiles in the Indian team. Sachin Tendulkar is in great touch and has scored four consecutive Test tons. South Africa on the hand little worry, because they have all the ODI specialist in their rank except their captain Graeme Smith who will be missed throughout the series but to feel the shoes of Smith they have included the in form Hashim Amla who recently scored 490 runs with an average of 490.00 in the two match test series. South African bowling will once again rely on their inform fast bowler Dale Styen who manage his team to won the first game at Nagpur quite easily. Watch out for H.Gibbs: Herchell Gibbs who hasn’t performed really well for South Africa will be under so much pressure with some new faces like Loots Bosman knocking the door as an opener. So it will be interesting to see how he performs in the first game of the three match series. Yusuf Pathan: He is superb form in the recent domestic matches with the bat and but it will not an easy task for Yusuf to perform in such fashion against the quality South African bowling attacks. Yusuf Pathan in last 10 days hit three century, first two came during Duleep Trophy final against West Zone when he smashed 210 runs of just 190 balls. Also he smashed 40 balls century against Maharashtra in Vijay Hazare Trophy at Ahemdabad. Pitch & Condition The pitch at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur will be pure batting wicket and team batting first can easily score between 280-310 runs. But it will be not an easy task bowling in the second half considering the dew factor which will come into play later on. So team winning the toss would love to restrict the opposition below 300 runs and defend themselves to chase down the total. Teams India will be without some of their key players but it will present some good opportunities for the youngster like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik to show their strength in the middle order. In the bowling department also India will be without Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh, the two most experienced bowlers will not take part in this game. So the bowling responsibility will rely on Ashish Nehra, S.Sreesanth, P.Kumar and Amith Mishra or R.Ashwin. On the other hand South Africa will be happier with the almost full strength side except Graeme Smith who will miss the series because of finger injury. Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 14:30 PM India Time) India Squad: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, S.Sreesanth. South Africa Squad: Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis (Captain), Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher (WK), Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Johan Botha, Charl Langeveldt. Stats & Trivia In the last seven ODI’s at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, teams batting second have won on five occasions. Jaques Kallis captaincy record against India is not good as he has lost two games of the three matches in which he lead South Africa. |
