After suffering a bitter defeat in the Test series against South Africa, it will be up to the Indian team to reproduce their supremacy on the same ground four years ago. The previous visit in 2018 resulted in a 5-1 win against the South African side in the six-match ODI series, and the KL Rahul-led side will try to follow in those footsteps. This would also be the first time Virat Kohli has played as a pure batter since taking over the captaincy in the 50-over format in 2017.
South Africa, meanwhile, will be entering the series full of confidence after their historic victory over India in the Test series. The Proteas side does not have as much experience in the batting order as teams from the subcontinent, so it will still be a difficult assignment for them. After a hiatus of more than four years, Ravichandran Ashwin is also anticipated to return to the Indian ODI team.
India tour of South Africa 2023, 1st ODI Match, India vs South Africa
Venue: The Wanderers Stadium Johannesburg
Date & Time: Sunday, 17 December, 01:30 PM IST
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Pitch Report: The first ODI’s motto will be “win the toss and bat first,” based on the average scores achieved thus far on the field. Being a day game, one of the challenges will be managing the heat on the Paarl pitch, which has proven to be challenging to defend. At this venue, a score of approximately 300 is anticipated to be the winning one.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI
South Africa:
Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Tabraiz Shamsi
India:
KL Rahul(w/c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar
