The right-handed batsman Aiden Markram has been called to the South Africa’s ODI squad for the third and the final ODI of the series against Bangladesh to be played at Buffalo Park in East London on October 22. He has replaced a rested Hashim Amla, who made merry in the first two games with scores of 110* and 85.
There are high chances of Markram making his debut, despite the fact that Temba Bavuma is already in the squad. Bavuma has played just one ODI for South Africa which came back last year in 2016. In his only ODI appearance against Ireland, Bavuma scored a century and played an innings of 113. However, a settled opening pair meant that he did not get a chance after that.
He would have been preferred over Markram, but the former U19 World Cup winning player has presented a strong case for a total of 255 runs in three innings which he played during the Test series against the same opposition. If he makes his debut, then Markram will become the 122nd ODI player for South Africa.
In the ongoing ODI series, South Africa holds an edge by a margin of 2-0. The hosts won the first ODI by a margin of 10 wickets. The opening pair of Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock faced no threat from Bangladesh bowling and chased down a big total of 279 without any fall of a wicket. In the second ODI, hosts relied on innings of 176 from Ab de Villiers and prevented a target of 354.
South Africa had already won the Test series by a margin of 2-0, and with a win in the third ODI, they would like to continue their dominance in the series.
Bangladesh still has some chances left as a two-match T20I series will follow the ODI series and there, visitors would like to bounce back and prevent themselves from a complete whitewash on tour.
South Africa squad for third ODI: Faf du Plessis(c), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Dane Paterson, Willem Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada.