Ranchi: After a thumping format at the hands of South Africa in the first ODI, India will be looking to stay alive in the three-match series by putting up a stellar show here on Sunday.
The visiting captain Temba Bavuma will be yearning for the vital Super League points needed for South Africa to automatically qualify for them for next year’s ODI World Cup.
In the absence of Deepak Chahar due to an ankle injury, India has a pretty hard task to showcase an improved bowling performance in Sunday's match.
The selectors have named Washington Sundar as his replacement, but he lacks experience in this format, but the Chennai lad will be keen on making a cut.
Sundar, however, has played four ODIs for India and picked up five wickets and scored 57 runs. He last played an ODI in February 2022.
Pacer Sardul Thakur, and spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav would love to carry on with their performance, which could help the team lot in the context of Mohammad Siraj and Avesh Khan failing to scalp wickets at the top, which also widens the scope for Shahbaz Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar getting a go.
In the batting department, skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Shubnam Gill would like to be among runs as they scored only 4 and 3 in the first ODI, respectively.
Ruturaj Gaikwad again was rather disappointing as he scored just 19 runs off 42 balls in the last match. Shreyas Iyer, who smashed 50 off 37 balls with 8 boundaries, would look to help India register a win, which he failed to do in the last match.
Sanju Samson played brilliantly, making 86 off 63 balls with nine hits to the fence and 3 sixes, but ran himself out of partners at the end. To tide over this problem, Sanju would like to pace his innings well in Ranchi.
Thakur who made a vital 33 off 31 balls with five boundaries would be itching to make yet another contribution with the bat down the order.
For South Africa's batting, Bavuma has been under tremendous pressure with his poor form which has got him an ignoble aggregate off just 11 runs in three T20Is and one ODI against India. He would like to get going ahead of the T20 World Cup starting soon.
Openers Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock, who made 22 and 48, respectively, would be craving for putting up yet another good show. It applies to Adien Markram also who failed to open an account in Lucknow.
David Miller has been in a devastating form and has been a thorn in the flesh for India. He has cracked a century in T20I at Guwahati and clobbered an unbeaten 75 off 63 balls with 5 boundaries and 3 sixes in the last match.
Heinrich Klassen would also want to carry forward his form after scoring an unbeaten 74 off 65 balls in the last match.
In the bowling department, pacers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi would look to contribute big. In Lucknow, they picked up 2 and 3 wickets, respectively.
Teams:
India: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Kumar, Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Rahul Tripathi.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Andile Phehlukwayo.