India and South Africa meet in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday, with the visitors looking to contain the Rohit Sharma–Virat Kohli partnership that proved decisive in the series opener.
India took a 1-0 lead after a 17-run win in Ranchi, where the hosts posted 349/8 on the back of Virat Kohli’s 135 — his 52nd ODI hundred — and fifties from Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. A 136-run stand between Rohit and Kohli stabilised the innings after an early wicket, before late strikes from Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch slowed India’s progress.
South Africa fell to 32/3 in the chase as Harshit Rana removed Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock in successive deliveries, and Arshdeep Singh dismissed captain Aiden Markram. Middle-order resistance from Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi and Dewald Brevis kept the visitors in contention, but Kuldeep Yadav’s four wickets halted their momentum.
Jansen and Bosch added late runs and pushed the match into the final over with 19 required, before Prasidh Krishna removed Bosch to seal the win for India.
India will again rely on Rohit and Kohli, while also expecting more from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who had quiet outings in their ODI return. South Africa’s priority will be to break the Rohit-Kohli stand early and avoid another top-order collapse.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (c/wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen
–IANS