'Men In Blue' Battle Proteas In 3-Match ODI Series On Home Turf!! Hosts Look To Reverse Fortunes After A Dismal Test Series!!

India will square off against South Africa in a 3-match ODI series that commences with the series opener at Ranchi, Jharkhand on November 30. 

The 3-match ODI series is part of white ball leg of South Africa’s Tour to India that also includes 5 T20Is b/w the teams.

The JSCA Stadium at Ranchi will play host to the Day / Night series opener that is scheduled for a 1:30 pm (IST) start. 

The 2nd ODI will be played at New Raipur on Dec 3 and the 3rd game of the series will be hosted by the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Vizag on Dec 6. .

'Men In Blue' will look for a much better performance in the white ball series after being clean -swept by the Proteas in the Test series. 

Team Updates

KL Rahul will captain the Indian team in injury-hit Shubman Gill's absence. Making a return to the 50-over fold, Rishabh Pant will be second in command to KL Rahul. 

India will be without a few of their seasoned stalwarts as Shreyas Iyer ( nursing injury), Hardik Pandya ( not fully fit) and Jasprit Bumrah ( rested)  will not feature in the series. Promising young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad get a look in the 50-over unit. Fans in MS Dhoni’s home town will be delighted to watch RoKo back doning the Indian Blue on home turf.

Temba Bavuma leads the 15-man SA squad that will also feature ODI stalwart Quinton De Kock, who recently reversed retirement and got back to playing ODI cricket. Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada misses out due to a rib injury.

IND vs SA | Recent Series Results

India had beaten the Proteas 2-1 in the last series played at home .Notably, the 'Men In Blue' had also beaten SA (2-1) in their backyard on their 2023-24 tour.

IND vs SA | Head to Head 

SA hold the edge over India in overall H2H, winning 51 out of the 94 ODI games played b/w the teams.

India does enjoy the slight edge over SA in ODIs played on home turf, winning 18 out of the 32 ODIs 

The ‘Men In Blue’ have been dominant over the Proteas in the last 10 years, winning 12 out of the 18 ODIs. 

• 3 Matched Ended In No Results

Recent ODI Form

Both teams head into the series after losing their previous ODI assignments. 2023 World Cup finalist + defending Champions Trophy champs India were beaten by Australia (1-2) in their last 50-over engagement while South Africa lost to Pakistan (1-2). Notably, SA had registered impressive series wins over Australia (2-1) and England (2-1)

SQUADS

India Squad:Batters | KL Rahul (C & wk), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk)

Allrounders | Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana

Bowlers | Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh.

South Africa Squad: Batters - Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi , Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk) , Rubin Hermann (wk)

Allrounders | Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch , Prenelan Subrayen

Bowlers | Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi ,Ottneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj

One will expect a hard fought series between two high quality ODI teams and hope that the Indian team can get back to winning ways in the white ball format after a dismal performance in the Test series.