South Africa bat against India in first ODI

On the batting front, not much will change.

For India, Virat Kohli’s form was in the spotlight. Though the first T20 in Dharamsala was a close one, India lost the second match in an embarrassing manner, as they could not even come up a three-digit score. For South Africa, Hashim Amla struggled for runs with scores of 14, 22 and 15 in Bangladesh to record his longest streak without an global fifty – seven innings.

Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the two new-ball bowlers for India.

Excellent over from Ashwin that, conceding just a single. “We are preparing for a normal cricket game, we will assess the conditions again when we get to the ground and try to expose India in certain areas”.

Chuck in the emerging Rabada, the rejuvenated Morkel and the always bouncy Imran Tahir, and South Africa’s attack boasts both penetration and variation. Not that it really matters right now. On inspecting the surface, de Villiers said it looked like a good wicket and he did not expect it to do anything out of the ordinary.

India were routed in the T20 series.

So these five matches can nearly be played without pressure but only nearly. Expect entertainment and intensity and maybe a bit of fun on the side. He has history on his side in his quest to assert authority. Statistically though, under Dhoni’s leadership, India have prospered in the fifty-over format – the high point being their victory in the 2011 World Cup. This has been a fairly successful venue for India: nine out of 12 matches played here have been won by them, with the losses arriving against Sri Lanka, in 1986, West Indies, in 1994, and Pakistan, in 2005.

Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra were also due to play Thursday’s final T20I, but whether they slot into the Rajkot game is not so straightforward.

South Africa’s AB de Villiers smiles as he walks out of the field in Kolkata.

Spin from both ends as Mishra continued from the other hand.

“It is nice to have Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn back – they have a lot of experience”, De Villiers said.

The T20 series may have lacked the drama neutrals would have hoped for, but the one-day series should be a far meatier affair. A scorching day is expected in Kanpur with temperatures set to reach 38 degrees and the heat could take its toll on the players.

“He is a very good bowler but I don’t think I got out to him in either of the two games”. We have a lot of pace, guys who can swing it, move it off the seam and good variation of spinners.

“There will be no dew, so the three-spinner option is available to us”, added the India captain.

“The series is not being seen around spinners”.

Weather will remain hot and dry for most part of the game.