INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018

South Africa in need of a lift to halt the Indian bandwagon

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Aiden Markram will have to return to the opening slot in the crucial third ODI
Aiden Markram will have to return to the opening slot in the crucial third ODI © AFP

You start on the back of a Test series win, as the No.1 ODI team riding a 17-match winning run at home and a spotless series record against your opposition. Five days later, you have dropped two games on the bounce, lost three key players to injury and appointed a tyro as captain. And for all those sacrifices, you are not any bit closer to identifying the intricacies of playing wrist spin. Hello South Africa, you seem to be having some trouble!

Poor Aiden Markram could look back on the Centurion beatdown and legitimately wonder what hit his captaincy debut the hardest - the injuries, the general ineffectiveness with the ball or the batting impotency. Given the rapid succession of games, he'll not have much time to mull over this abject start, although 'that' 40-minute lunch break with India needing two more runs to win would have at least served as a poignant moment of introspection.

Now onto Cape Town, the devil's peak looks down ominously. A defeat here and even AB de Villiers's imminent return at Wanderers cannot help win the series. From when the teams were here at start of India's tour, the tide has turned quite a bit. So much so that now South Africa batting coach Dale Benkenstein is extoling the virtues of 'intent': Kuldeep and Chahal may have gotten 13 of the 18 wickets to fall, but nothing good can come off being passive against them.

It is clear the hosts need a lift of any kind to imbue the group with belief. The management admitted before the series that an allowance on results could be made if headway was made into shortlisting a core group for their #Vision2019. In that sense, some runs for Markram, Khaya Zondo and Heinrich Klaasen will be most welcome. But to keep hopes of a series alive, the hosts wouldn't say no if the runs came from the Amlas, Millers and the Duminys too.

While South Africa have been quite the attention hogs, India for a change on the tour have little to worry or anything to change. But they will once again keep an eye on how best to utilise fifth-bowler duties, a role shared between Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav.

When: South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI, February 7, 13:00 local, 16:30 IST

Where: Newlands, Cape Town

What to expect: The cricket is not forecast to be disrupted by rain but that's of scant relevance in severely drought-hit Cape Town as 'Day Zero' nears. The acute water shortage has meant that head groundsman Evan Flint has been allowed to water the outfield only once (last Saturday) and dry patces on the outfield are indicative of that.

As for the pitch itself, it is not a green mamba on which Vernon Philander ruled. Runs will be there for the taking. In the last game played at the venue, exactly a year ago, South Africa and Sri Lanka managed a match-aggregate of 694 runs, with du Plessis scoring a career-best 185. Someone else though will have to replicate that feat for the hosts this time.

Team News:

India

India have no reason to change the make-up of their playing composition unless the pitch magically sprouts another layer of grass on match day. Barring injuries, the eleven should be retained for a third-straight game.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa

South Africa's new captain Markram started at No.4 and three matches in, will find himself returning to his natural position at the top of the order, albeit not for a very happy reason. The talented Heinrich Klaasen will don the 'keeping gloves and take up a slot in the middle-order. Given their batting concern, South African could consider opting for the experience of Farhaan Behardien but it cannot come at the expense of the 'fifth bowler'. Because playing two frontline spinners has never been South Africa's 'thing', an alternative towards adding batting depth would have them reinstating all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo for one of the spinners.

Probable XI: Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram (c), JP Duminy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Khaya Zondo, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo/Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

Did you know?

- If India win the third ODI, it will be the first instance of them winning three consecutive ODIs against South Africa in a series.

- Hashim Amla hasn't scored a fifty in his last ten ODI innings against India - the longest such barren run against any opponent. He averages 31.66 from six innings at Newlands - the lowest for him at a home venue.

- India's spinners have taken 13 wickets this series at an average of 11.61 conceding just 3.74 per over. On the other hand, South African spinners are yet to take a wicket and concede at 6.00 per over.

- Morne Morkel has taken 13 wickets in four ODIs at Newlands at 10.92 and takes a wicket every 17.2 balls.

What they said:

"In an ideal world, close to the perfect game, if a lot of people score runs, lot of people take wickets. Or you need individual brilliance. We'll take either or. We know cricket is a game of ups and downs. We need to go back, see where we're going wrong, calm down and do our business on the field."

- Kagiso Rabada touches on philosophy when prodded on to explain what South Africa need to do to turnaround their series deficit.

"Wrist spinners can turn the ball even on flat wickets. Beause some of the foreign teams are not used to it, these spinners can create an element of doubt in the batsmen's mind."

- Shikhar Dhawan on what's afflicting South Africa's batsmen in the series so far.

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