India Tour of South Africa

Match 02: SA vs. IND 

Preview 

After a crunching defeat in the first One Day International, it’s a do or die clash for the Indian team in the second match. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli did play quality knocks but they need to finish games for the team. It is unfortunate that King Virat, who used to win countless games for team India is struggling to finish games. Credit goes to the South Africa bowlers who didn’t give him such space to dominate. However, team India can’t be entirely dependent on him, the middle order needs to perform now. It is been quite some time since the idle order has won us a game and to stay alive in the series, they have to.

Temba Bavuma and Van Der Dussen played an incredible knock in the last match. Both these players scored a century each and Van Der Dussen was also chosen as the Man of the Match for his 129 not-out. For South Africa, they would want De Kock to come in form and dominate like he used to. He hasn’t impressed anyone lately and in order to establish themselves as a big team, the start needs to be good and De Kock and Janneman Malan will be at the centre of it. The bowlers have also done a decent job to at least give South Africa the hope that they can go and win games against one of the best sides in the world.

This is also a bit personal. No one, absolutely no one gave South Africa any chance that they can go on to win the test series and will lead in the One Day Series. Whether they took it personally or not, that no one knows but the kind of spirit and the kind of fight that they are bringing on the table, one thing is clear to everyone and that is the Proteas are here to send a message. A message that they are ready to dominate the world cricket after being submissive in the last few years.

India needs to play their natural game but the youngsters in the team needs to take a bit more responsibility. They haven’t impressed anyone so far. It’s true that the Indian team doesn’t play ODI cricket that much but that no way means that you will give wickets for free. Despite Rishabh’s heroic knock in the last test, he should have taken a bit more responsibility and help India reach the target. Venkatesh Iyer, who made his debut and thus one shouldn’t say much about him but the way he was dismissed will raise questions specially when the likes of Hardik Pandya are out waiting. Shreyas Iyer needs to get the run as well. He is looking for captaining an Indian T20 team but before that he needs to perform for his national team and then should demand these things.

The concept of going with 5 bowlers and not playing an extra batter has come as a boomerang for the Indian team. They should sacrifice a bowler and should go for Suryakumar Yadav in the middle and trust Venkatesh Iyer a little. It’s unlikely that they will do that though.

Match Details

Match: SA vs. IND, 2nd Match, India Tour of South Africa

Date: Friday, January 21, 2022

Time: 2:00 pm

Venue: Bolland Park, Paarl. 

Pitch Report

The pitch is expected to be slow and flat. Batting first will be ideal in this pitch as with time, the pitch will get slower and slower. Dew won’t be having any effect in the match and expect a game between 250-300.

SA vs. IND Squads

SA: Quinton de Kock (WK), Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dwaine Pretorius, Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen

IND: KL Rahul(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Navdeep Saini, Suryakumar Yadav

SA vs. IND Probable XIs

SA: Quinton de Kock, Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma (C), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

IND: KL Rahul (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

Match Prediction

After a defeat in the first match, team India will be coming all guns blazing to win the second ODI and stay alive in the series. The senior players will once again have the responsibility to take the team home. South Africa can once again prove to be a dangerous team in their backyard. More or less, expect a cracking game.

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