India and South Africa will end the ongoing international cricket season with the three-match ODI series in India. The first game of this series will be played at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday (12th March).
Both teams had completely different stories in their last ODI series. While India lost the three-match ODI series in New Zealand by the 3-0 margin, South Africa won the three-match home ODI series against Australia.
However, they will now have to face different challenges as India will now play at home, and South Africa will have to play as the away side.
It is going to be the last ODI series for both sides ahead of their journey in the 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, the direct qualifier process for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Though India have already secured their place for the CWC 2023 as they will host this tournament, they will take the Super League as a preparation for the next CWC.
Date: 12th March 2020
Time: 13:30 IST
Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
Weather forecast:
The opening game of the ODI series is under the serious threat of rain. According to AccuWeather forecast, there is the possibility of little rain at the day time and thundershowers at night. This weather can hugely affect this day/night ODI.
Pitch Report:
Out of four ODIs at this venue, thrice the winners were second batting sides while the teams opting to bat first batting hugely struggled in those matches. Only once the first batting team won an ODI at this venue when India set the 300+ total in the first innings.
While the pacers generally get benefit at this venue, batsmen can score good runs after spending a good time on this pitch.
India’s Predicted XI:
Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar have returned to the squad after recovering from their respective injuries. But the Indian team will miss the vice-captain Rohit Sharma and the right-arm pacer Mohammed Shami.
Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill are likely to fight for the opening spot while Ravindra Jadeja will now face the fight with Hardik Pandya to grab the all-rounder spot. The team management is also likely to go with one spinner in this ODI as they will have to choose between Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Predicted XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (C), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah.
South Africa’s Predicted XI:
While Quinton de Kock has started his international captaincy period positively, Faf du Plessis‘ ODI return will boost this side. It is going to be the first presence in ODI for Faf du Plessis since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The Proteas bowling side hasn’t the big experiences, and they will miss the right-arm fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.
Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (C/wk), Janneman Malan, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks and Lungi Ngidi.
Match Prediction:
Though the Indian team is struggling at present, they are still a strong ODI side at home.
However, the South African team is also ready to stun everyone in this away series.