Kohlibacksspinners toenddurbanjinx
Having lost all six ODIS against South Africa at Kingsmead, Kohli will rely on spinners to pull off a first win over hosts in the series opener
DURBAN: More than Australia, South Africa happens to be India’s final frontier.
While they haven’t won a Test series in this country, even an ODI series win has eluded the twice world champions -- they have won a Tri-series Down Under.
It is the balance of the Proteas side, a bowling attack that relies on consistency and pace, athletic fielding as well as the pitches that have made things difficult, not just for India but for every Asian side touring this part of the southern hemisphere.
Over the past 25 years, since South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, there has been only one Asian side that has won a one-day series here – Misbah ul-haq’s Pakistan, in 2013, a month before South Africa blanked MS Dhoni’s team.
Interestingly, Misbah played three spinners in each game of that series. And although they didn’t exactly run through the opposition, they delivered.
When they last duelled in an ODI, in the Champions Trophy last year, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla gave South Africa a strong start and looked to take the game away. But once spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja came on, the team folded for less than 200.
India have made life easier for themselves having had de Kock on the mat in the Test series. The ODI opener, who scored three successive centuries in the 2013 series to help his team build huge totals, made just 71 in six Test innings, averaging 11.83.
The hosts are also without the injured AB de Villiers in the middle order. It gives India a strong chance to script their first series win.
Vice-captain Rohit Sharma was asked if South Africa’s top order would hold the key. “Their top order is solid. But when we came here the last time, our guys were inexperienced. They have experience to bowl in these conditions. They did the job in Tests.”
India bowlers will have to be ready for something more. Bowling pace on these surfaces won’t be as easy as it was on the madeto-order wickets in Tests.
Despite Durban having a large population of Indian origin and Kohli saying it gives him a different feeling from anywhere else in the world, India have not won an ODI against South Africa here, losing six with one no result.