A young Indian side will be aiming to bounce back and secure only the country’s second-ever ODI series victory in the rainbow nation as they take on South Africa in the ODI series decider at Boland Park today.
After winning the first ODI by 8 wickets in Johannesburg, India lost the second in Gqeberha by the same margin, with both teams sharing honours so far.
Neither India nor South Africa have a full-strength squad, as their stars—such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kagiso Rabada—are preparing for the upcoming 2-match Test series starting on 26th December.
India has played 7 bilateral ODI series in South Africa, securing their only win in 2018 under Virat Kohli in a 6-match series. In 2022, India was blanked 3-0 under KL Rahul, the skipper of Lucknow Super Giants, who will be looking to avenge that defeat and lead the visitors to a series win on Thursday.
With the pitch in Paarl expected to be a little slower than other venues in South Africa, India has the option to field three spinners for the decider.
The 3rd ODI match between India and South Africa will begin at 4:30 PM IST on Sunday. The toss will take place at 4:00 PM.
India and South Africa squads:
India: KL Rahul (captain, WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Mihlali Mpongwana, Wiaan Mulder, Beuran Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams, Kyle Verreynne