India favourites, not just challengers
Within few days, India look stronger after injuries to Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers
AND IF SOUTH AFRICA LACKING THEIR REGULAR NOS. 3 AND 4 WASN’T ENOUGH OF GOOD NEWS FOR INDIA, WICKETKEEPERBATSMAN QUINTON DE KOCK TOO HAD AN INJURY WORRY ON THE EVE OF THE GAME
CENTURION: From being mere challengers to South Africa’s dominance at home in ODIs, the touring Indians have gone on to become favourites within a couple of days.
Ahead of this series, while India had a worry in their middle order – at No. 4, South Africa’s looked pretty much solid. Now, it is just the other way.
After drawing first blood at Durban, Virat Kohli’s men got a boost through misfortune to South Africa as skipper Faf du Plessis, the centurion in the previous game, was ruled out leaving a big hole in the top and middle order.
AB de Villiers won’t return before the fourth ODI and all this leaves the new captain Aiden Markram, who struggled against spin while batting at No. 4 in the first game, with a task at hand.
And if South Africa lacking their regular Nos. 3 and 4 wasn’t enough of good news for India, wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock too had an injury worry on the eve of the game. He had his hand strapped up as the Proteas called up Heinrich Klaasen.
De Kock though is expected to play, the team management said.
The South Africans were seen batting for long against Chinaman Tabriz Shamsi and leg-spinner Imran Tahir with Markram looking to get a hang of the sweep shot. Faf du Plessis stood beside him, acting as his guide.
Du Plessis had said in the previous game that he expected India to play both their spinners, irrespective of the wickets. He expected the surfaces to get true in the forthcoming games.
In short, it should be better for batting, something that India’s new No. 4 Ajinkya Rahane, quite adept at playing pace, will find to his liking. Rahane’s inclusion seems to have solved the No. 4 conundrum after he came good in the previous game.
The skill and experience that he brought to the table made the 269-run chase look easy.
“We knew we had to target some bowlers. They had Rabada upfront and Tahir in the middle overs who could trouble us. We ensured we took singles and didn’t leave much for the end,” said Rahane while explaining how he and Virat had paced their partnership in the first ODI.
While his induction suddenly makes Indian batting look much better, there is a concern at the top with Rohit Sharma continuing his poor run in South Africa. He averages just about 13 in ODIs here.
Though this venue has been South Africa’s forte in Tests, India have an even record against the hosts in ODIs. They’ve won two and lost two with the last one, in 2013, getting washed out. However, India have lost the last two ODIs and importantly, their batsmen have struggled in all the five matches they’ve played here against the hosts.