The gossip about the combustible dressing room situation aside, India will rely on Virat Kohli’s commanding form and Rohit Sharma’s indomitable presence to seal a series victory over a doughty South Africa in the second ODI, in Raipur, on Wednesday.
India’s 17-run victory in the series-opening match at Ranchi was made possible by Kohli’s record-extending 52nd ODI century and Rohit’s quick 57. The home bowlers had to withstand a fierce comeback from the Proteas before stopping them.
Two years before the 2027 ODI World Cup, Kohli and Rohit are reportedly handling escalating tensions with head coach Gautam Gambhir in addition to trying out for every game to demonstrate their fitness and form.
The topic has dominated the off-field conversation and is expected to have the BCCI stepping in at some stage. Having set up two successive triumphs for India in last as many ODIs — including a nine-wicket hammering of Australia at Sydney in October — Kohli and Rohit have shown they will everything necessary to be on that airplane to the World Cup in South Africa.
Both the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and Gambhir have been non-committal about their participation in the World Cup and that has undoubtedly been at the core of the growing tensions between the two sides. Despite the first victory, India still has a lot more to worry about.
To begin with, the combination doesn’t seem to be exactly right. Ruturaj Gaikwad was moved from opening to No. 4 despite having an outstanding record in List A cricket. He did not look entirely conditioned for the task, with stand-in captain K L Rahul firmly protecting his position at No 6.
Washington Sundar, who batted at number three in the Kolkata Test against the Proteas, is no stranger to such attempts. But in the first ODI at No 5, he too was among the batters dismissed in a time where India slowed down. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder had a quiet bowling day, sending down just three overs for eighteen runs.
To his credit, Harshit Rana enhanced his reputation by striking twice with the new ball, but his tendency to leak runs at the death remains a concern. With only one ball used from both ends after the 34th over, the all-rounder will need to tighten his control in the later stages.
Kuldeep Yadav snaffled important wickets for a match tally of 4/68 and even though he was a little expensive, his variation proved to be the difference as South Africa fell short but then, not by a great margin.
After being reduced to 11/3 at one point, South Africa will undoubtedly take great pride in their inspirational recovery.
Marco Jansen scored a brilliant 70 from 39 balls on a flat pitch, tearing into the Indian bowlers once more for a minute-a-mile half-century (off 26 balls). While South Africa’s big tail, which includes the dangerous Corbin Bosch, threatened to steal the game away from India, Matthew Breetzke led a recovery with a brilliant 72 in his debut ODI against India.
South Africa played in the first ODI without their regular skipper Temba Bavuma and Keshav Maharaj, who both were rested after their historic Test series win. However, their comeback is anticipated to strengthen the Proteas.
The Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in the capital of Chhattisgarh is comparable to Guwahati, where the hosts were not too comfortable with the pitch and conditions.
In the single ODI played at the venue, India made easy work of New Zealand in January 2023 when Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj exploited sharp seam movement off the surface to bowl the Kiwis out for a measly 108. The hosts completed an eight-wicket triumph with about 30 overs to spare.
Even the only T20I played in December 2023, against Australia, was also not a high-scoring encounter which India won by 20 runs after putting on 174/9.
Teams:
India: K L Rahul (captain, w/k), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (w/k), Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (w/k), Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann (w/k), Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton (w/k), Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Prenelan Subrayen, Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi
