Indian captain Virat Kohli and South African captain Quinton de Kock (photo - Getty Images)
India will face off South Africa in the first of three One day internationals in Dharmsala tomorrow.
India is back home after a poor tour of New Zealand as they lost Test and ODI series and could win only T20Is and at home they will hope to return to winning ways and captain Kohli will be eager to play some big knocks after having a very poor outing across formats in New Zealand. In these conditions India is favourite and the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan strengthen them but the absence of injured Rohit Sharma will hurt like we saw in New Zealand. On the other hand, South Africa is coming off with a 3-0 win over Australia and will look to carry that form into this ODI series. For them Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi will be key players.
Match Details :
Match : IND vs SA, India vs South Africa, 1st ODI, South Africa tour of India 2020
Date : 12 March 2020
Time : 1.30 PM IST
Venue : Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharmsala
Head to Head :
ODI Matches – 84
India won – 35
South Africa won – 46
No results – 3
In the last two-three years India have dominated over South Africa in all formats of the game and recently whitewashed them in a Test series at home but at present situation is bit different as India is coming with a poor tour of New Zealand and South Africa is coming with a win over Australia. Here we’ll analyse both teams’ strengths and weaknesses and will also make cricket match prediction.
Strengths : India’s strengths are their top order batting line up of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul and the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw too are in good form. In bowling spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal will be the keys. For South Africa it’s going to be their inform batting middle order of JJ Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller and in bowling Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje will be trump cards.
Weaknesses : India’s weaknesses are the absence of a consistent lower middle order batsmen and also they don’t have a finisher and pacer Jasprit Bumrah is out of form and struggling for wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar too will make his come back after a long time so not sure how will he bowl. On the other hand, South Africa don’t have depth in their batting line up and the absence of inform Tabraiz Shamsi will weaken their spin bowling department.
India began their year on a good note with a T20I series win over Sri Lanka and ODI series win over Australia – both at home and they went on to win T20Is in New Zealand as well but couldn’t show that performance in ODI and Test series against New Zealand. On the other hand, South Africa was going through a bad phase but the win over Australia in ODIs have given them much needed confidence. Although in these home conditions India is a very strong team and they should beat this inexperienced and young South African side who can struggle against spin so our today match prediction is that India should win this ODI.
Following are the odds for this ODI match on two most famous betting sites –
Bet365 : India : 1.40, South Africa : 3.00
Betway : India : 1.36, South Africa : 3.00
On the basis of recent performances (ODI performance in 2020) following players are the good picks for fantasy cricket teams –
India :
KL Rahul – 350 runs at 70.0 in 6 innings (1*100, 2*50)
Shreyas Iyer – 272 runs at 54.40 in 6 innings (1*100, 2*50)
Virat Kohli – 258 runs at 43.00 in 6 innings (3*50)
Yuzvendra Chahal – 6 wickets at 17.50 in 2 innings
Ravindra Jadeja – 6 wickets and 108 runs in 6 innings
South Africa :
Heinrich Klaasen – 242 runs at 242 in 3 innings (1*100, 2*50)
Quinton de Kock – 228 runs at 38.0 in 6 innings (1*100, 1*50)
Lungi Ngidi – 12 wickets at 16.08 in 4 innings
Anrich Nortje – 6 wickets at 22.16 in 3 innings
As we have already told India won the ODI series against Australia at home and lost in New Zealand and South Africa is coming with a 3-0 series win over Australia so both the teams have been okay in this format this year and on the basis of players performance in ODI cricket for dream11 prediction teams players like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja are must picks. While Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock didn’t score big runs recently but they’re proven performers and can come good at any time and the likes of Hardik Pandya, JJ Smuts who bat as well as bowl can be very useful for fantasy teams.