India take on South Africa in the second of the ongoing six-match ODI series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday, February 4.
Also read: Chahal credits Dhoni, Kohli for record-breaking spell in 2nd ODI
The visitors will be heading into the match with a lot of confidence after their six-wicket demolition of South Africa in Durban on Thursday, February 1. Virat Kohli and Co came up with an all-round performance after being asked to chase in the day-night match.
Also read: Here is India's likely Playing XI for 2nd ODI against South Africa in Centurion
Captain Kohli hit his 20th century while chasing and stitched a record-breaking 189-run stand with Ajinkya Rahane as India gunned down a 270-run target with 4.3 overs in hand.
This was after wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav broke the backbone of South Africa's batting order with five wickets between them even as Faf du Plessis hit a well-paced 120 that eventually went in vain.
South Africa suffered a huge setback when captain du Plessis was ruled out of the remainder of the ODI rubber and the upcoming T20I series due to a fractured finger. The 33-year-old suffered the injury when he dived to his right while fielding in the slips in Durban.
The hosts will now miss the experience of du Plessis and injured AB de Villiers in the middle order, which needs to stand up against India's wrist-spinners, who will look to impress in the Highveld on Sunday.
Young Markram under pressure on ODI captaincy debut
Aiden Markram has been appointed the stand-in captain, and the 23-year-old, who has played only two ODIs so far, will be under enormous pressure. His job will be made easier if the likes of Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock give the team a good start. Nonetheless, the focus will be on middle-order batsmen JP Duminy and David Miller, as both of them failed against Kuldeep in Durban.
South Africa will be tempted to give India a taste of their own medicine by including left-arm chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi, who finished the domestic one-day competition as the highest wicket-taker (26 scalps in 9 matches), in the playing XI. However, it remains to be seen if they will drop Imran Tahir after just one failure or include both the spinners in the team.
Rahane's performance boosts India's confidence
On the other hand, India looked a settled unit after Rahane came good at the No 4 spot in Durban. Notably, the Asian giants had tried several players at the spot without much success, and thus the Mumbai batsman's well-paced 79 should give the team management a lot of confidence.
"I am better equipped for batting at number four, I am more mature now. I know how to build my innings at number four," Rahane said on the eve of the second ODI.
When does the match start and how to watch it live
The second ODI between South Africa and India will start at 1:30 pm IST, 10 am local time, 8 am GMT.
Live streaming and TV listings
India: TV: Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3; Live streaming: Sony LIV
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2; Live streaming: SuperSport live
UK: TV: Sky Sports Cricket; Live streaming: Sky Go
US: Willow TV
Squads
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Jean-Paul Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram (c), David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Lungisani Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaya Zondo, Farhaan Behardien, Heinrich Klaasen
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur
