Ranchi, Nov 30 (IANS) South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the JSCA International Stadium Complex.

The visitors arrive hoping to carry their momentum from the Test series into the ODIs, while the hosts see this as a chance to silence critics questioning their white-ball credentials. With injuries forcing changes, India now have an unexpected opportunity to assess their depth in the 50-over format.

Despite a fairly stable batting order, India must cope without Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, creating space for new combinations. Their last ODI outing in Australia was marked by the presence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, still the marquee names in the only format they play these days, so naturally, much of the spotlight will fall on them again throughout the series.

South Africa, meanwhile, aim to intensify India’s challenges. Although they lost their previous ODI series in Pakistan earlier this month, the return of several frontline players makes them a far stronger outfit now.

With Gill sidelined due to the neck injury he picked up in the first Test in Kolkata, KL Rahul steps in to lead the Indian side, while South Africa’s regular skipper Temba Bavuma has been rested, with Aiden Markram captaining.

Stand-in Protea skipper Markram, upon winning the toss, spoke of the team combination and said, “Spent a couple of evenings, dew at night time and it’ll be slightly easier to bat at night. Different personnel, the dressing room is at a good place with a lot of energy and fun. It’s an important series, the end role the 2027 WC, still a bit of time, but we’re up against one of the best teams in the world. Just one spinner in Subrayen, I will bowl a bit – Temba and Maharaj have been rested, four seamers for us today.”

India captain Rahul said that they had been looking to bowl too. When asked of the team’s mindset and combination heading into the game, said, “The preparation has been good, the energy is there with a lot of players coming back, we want to enjoy ourselves in the middle. That’s what the chat has been, we need to use every opportunity we get in the ODI team, this is a great chance to challenge our skills against a very good team. Three spinners and three quicks for us today.

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram (c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman

–IANS

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