Raipur is the venue for second of three One Day Internationals between India and South Africa, the game takes place on Wednesday and in terms of the series India are 1-0 up with two to play
This is a three match series which will be followed by 5 x T20’s. The Proteas won both matches in the two game test series which kicked off this tour, coming out on top by margins of 30 runs and 408 runs but it was India who won a high scoring thriller in the first of the ODI’s.
Ranchi hosted the series opener on Sunday and India came out on top of what was high scoring contest by 17 runs.
South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first and India posted 349/8. Virat Kohli top scored with 135 off 120 balls including 7 of his sides 16 maximums. Rohit made 57 and KL Rahul made 60 in the later stages of the innings. Jansen, Burger, Bosch and Baartman all took 2 wickets each with Baartman marginally the most economical at a run a ball.
South Africa lost the top 3 in their batting order in the first 28 deliveries and at 11/3 they looked doomed. However Breetzke (72), Jansen (70) and Bosch (67) led a fightback which took the game deep before the Proteas were all out for 332 with 4 balls remaining. South Africa hit 12 maximums and Kuldeep Yadav (4/68) and Harshit Rana (3/65) were the most successful of the India bowlers. Kohli was named Man of the Match.
This was how the teams lined up in the first match
India: Rohit Sharma,Yashasvi Jaiswal,Virat Kohli,Ruturaj Gaikwad,Washington Sundar,KL Rahul (c) (wk),Ravindra Jadeja,Harshit Rana,Kuldeep Yadav,Arshdeep Singh,Prasidh Krishna
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton,Quinton de Kock (wk),Aiden Markram (c),Matthew Breetzke,Tony de Zorzi,Dewald Brevis,Marco Jansen,Corbin Bosch,Prenelan Subrayen,Nandre Burger,Ottneil Baartman
India Recent Form
India lost 2-1 in Australia in October. The Aussies wrapped the series up with wins by 7 wickets and 2 wickets in the first 2 matches and India gained some consolation with a 9 wicket victory in the third.
In Feb / March this year India won the ICC Champions Trophy, winning all 5 of their matches which were all staged in Dubai. Just before that tournament India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of a home series against England.
South Africa Recent Form
At the start of this month South Africa lost 2-1 n Pakistan. They lost the first match by 2 wickets, squared things up with an 8 wicket win in the second contest but Pakistan won the decider by 7 wickets.
The Proteas also won 2-1 in England in September and again ran out 2-1 winners in Australia in August.
South Africa made it to the semi finals of the Champions Trophy early in the year where they lost to New Zealand.
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 95 times in this format with India winning 41 to South africa’s 51 with 3 no results.
The Betting
At the time of writing India are 3/10 to win and South Africa are 22/10
Prices subject to change
The Verdict
The Proteas paid the price for losing early wickets on Sunday but can take plenty of heart from the fight showed by the middle to lower order.
There is little international data to work with on the likely conditions at Raipur but the bowler who impressed me most on Sunday, Kuldeep is my top wicket taker pick for the hosts. I would imagine Maharaj was rested on Sunday and will return here, hopefully in the wwickets.
Bet: Top India Bowler Kuldeep Yadav at 11/4 with Sportingbet
Top South Africa Bowler Keshav Maharaj at 34/10 with Sportingbet
Prices subject to change