Paarl (South Africa): All eyes will be on Virat Kohli, playing in the Indian team only as a batsman for the first time in seven years, when the Indian team under the captaincy of KL Rahul will play the first one-day cricket match against South Africa on Wednesday. Be it batting at the crease or fielding near the boundary, Kohli’s every move will be watched by fans though Rahul’s captaincy will also be put to the test.
It will also be interesting to see whether he looks as full of vigor and aggression on the field as ever or appears indifferent on the field after relinquishing the captaincy in every format of cricket with Test captaincy. After T20, he did not want to give up the ODI captaincy and on this issue he also got angry with BCCI. His fans and Indian cricket must be praying that forgetting his controversy with BCCI, he starts a new innings of his career in which only his bat speaks. Two years later, his century with the bat would be icing on the cake.
Rahul, who is captaining the injured Rohit Sharma, will definitely take advice from Kohli in the series. Kohli has to play a vital role not only as a batsman but as vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah has said that he will always be the leader of the team. Winning this series with a new captain and support staff, India would like to start preparations for the 2023 World Cup. Along with this, he also has to heal the wounds caused by the defeat in the Test series last week. India last played an ODI series with a strong team against England in March. After this, the second-rate team went to Sri Lanka in July.
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Rahul had batted in the middle order against England and now it remains to be seen if he opens the innings again with Shikhar Dhawan. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made his place in the team after a stellar performance in the domestic season, will have to wait for his debut. These three matches will be very important for Dhawan as he has already lost his place in the T20 team. Kohli will land at number three while the number four will be picked between Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer. Rishabh Pant will bat at number five and Venkatesh Iyer can make his debut at number six.
Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin will be responsible for the spin bowling. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack while Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and one of the famous Krishna can be brought in as the third option. Mohammad Siraj, who was injured in the Test series, is also fit. On the last tour, India defeated South Africa by 5.1 in the ODI series, however, South Africa are on high spirits after winning the Test series. Temba Bavuma would like to continue his Test form while Quinton de Kock, who has retired from Tests, would like to prove his worth in the ODIs. Fast bowler Marco Jensen, who has impressed in the Test series, can once again trouble the Indian batsmen.
The teams are as follows:
India: KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Pranand Krishna, Shardul Thakur , Mohammad Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock, Zubair Hamza, Marco Jensen, Jaaneman Malan, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Felukwayo, Dwayne Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ra Tabrez Shamwani Der Dussen, Kyle Verne.
Match Time: From two o’clock in the afternoon. (agency)