Visakhapatnam is the venue for third and final One Day Internationals between India and South Africa, the game takes place on Saturday and after the Proteas squared the series earlier this week, this is the proverbial decider.
This series 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 and the ODI series is currently level at 1-1 with this one to play.
1st ODI Wrap
Ranchi hosted the series opener last 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 with Virat Kohli top scoring with 135 off 120 balls. South Africa lost the top 3 in their batting order in the first 28 deliveries before 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.
2nd ODI Wrap
Raipur hosted the second match of the series on Wednesday. South Africa won the toss again and asked India to bet first and the hosts posted 358/5 with another ton for Kohli (102) which was marginally bettered by Gikwad (105) and KL Rahul finished 66 not out. Marco Jansen (2/63) was leading SA wicket taker.
This time, although de Kock went early, the Proteas made a solid start to the chase and Man of the Match Markram went on to top score with 110. Bavuma (46), Breetzke (68) and Brevis (54) brought the asking rate down to a level which made the Proteas firm favourites but after de Zorzi had to retire hurt it was left largely to Corbin Bosch (29 off 15) to see the Proteas home with 4 balls to spare. Arshdeep Singh (2/54) was the pick of the Indian bowlers and South African cleared the ropes 11 times to India’s 7.
This was how the teams lined up in the second ODI
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal,Rohit Sharma,Virat Kohli,Ruturaj Gaikwad,Washington Sundar,KL Rahul (c) (wk),Ravindra Jadeja,Harshit Rana,Kuldeep Yadav,Arshdeep Singh,Prasidh Krishna
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk),Aiden Markram,Temba Bavuma (c),Matthew Breetzke,Tony de Zorzi,Dewald Brevis,Marco Jansen,Corbin Bosch,Keshav Maharaj,Nandre Burger,Lungi Ngidi
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 96 times in this format with India winning 41 to South Africa’s 52 with 3 no results.
The Betting
At the time of writing India are 9/20 to win and South Africa are 1.75/1
Prices subject to change
The Verdict
Bowlers have been largely up against in the series so far although the current first innings total runs line of 311.5 is much higher than what we saw in Raipur and India went sailing past it and still finished on the losing side. The total sixes line is currently set at +/- 14.5.
After the way Tony de Zorzi pulled up towards the end of the Proteas innings on Wednesday I would assume he faces a spell on the sidelines which will be a big miss and the visitors will have to keep the lid on Kohli who is bidding for a third successive ton.
Still I’m open minded about the outcome and ill go with a pick from each side to make a 50 in the shape of Rohit and Breetzke.
I’m also sticking with Maharaj, who had a rare blank on Tuesday, to be leading SA wicket taker
Bet: To score a 50, Matthew Breetzke? Yes at 22/10 with Sportingbet
To score a 50, Rohit Sharma? Yes at 2.05/1 with Pokerbet
Top SA wicket taker, Maharaj at 4/1 with Sportingbet
Prices subject to change
