SA vs IND: 2nd ODI Preview – Battered India seek a comeback

After a thrilling contest in the first of the three-match ODI series, South Africa and India are all set to battle it out in the second ODI at Boland Park, Paarl. With South Africa 1-0 up in the series, the stakes are really high for the upcoming one-dayer.

While a win for India would mean that the final game becomes a series decider, the Proteas on the other hand have a golden opportunity to seal the series. However, the pressure would be on the visitors as despite having things under control towards the first half of the second innings of the first ODI, things went downhill for them as they endured a batting collapse. The pressure is on their stand-in skipper KL Rahul, who failed to make an impact on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the Asian side is known to make spectacular comebacks and the same can be expected from them once again. The hosts on the other hand would be confident after a spirited performance. However, their openers will be expected to perform better. With the constant criticism of Aiden Markram, another failure from him and there could be questions over his spot in the XI.

As for their bowling, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj were fairly decent. Their pacers were brilliant towards the death overs as they managed to pull things back. Yet, their captain Temba Bavuma would love a few early wickets in the second ODI.

Match Info:

South Africa vs India 2nd ODI

Venue: Boland Park, Paarl

Start date and time: January 20 2022 at 2:00 PM IST

Team News:

South Africa:

The Bavuma-led side wouldn’t want to change a winning combination and thus, would persist with the XI which they fielded during the previous 50-over game. Besides, their batters who didn’t fire on Wednesday are due for big scores.

Predicted XI: Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

India:

Despite a loss, the Rahul-led side wouldn’t want to drop their seasoned campaigners. However, the one change which is expected is that of Deepak Chahar replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been mediocre for quite a while now.

Predicted XI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal