New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Former South African quick Dale Steyn picked a combined playing XI ahead of the first ODI of the three-match series between India and South Africa, which will be played on Sunday at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi. The Proteas legend acknowledged that picking an XI from the two teams was a ‘tricky’ task and that both sides had ‘lots of fantastic players’.

India and South Africa concluded their two-match Test series recently and will now square off in three ODIs, followed by a five-game T20I series in the build-up to the T20 World Cup 2026.

In a video shared by StarSports on X, Steyn named a sharp and competitive combined XI when asked to pick a team, as he said, “If I had to combine the two teams, it’s a tricky one, lots of fantastic players and surely someone’s going to miss out but it’d be Rohit to open the batting with Quinton de Kock, Virat at three, Tilak Varma at four, KL Rahul at five, Brevis six, Jadeja, Jansen, Kuldeep, Arshdeep, and Lungi Ngidi.”

Dale Steyn’s IND-SA combined XI: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Dewald Brevis, Ravindra Jadeja, Marco Jansen, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Lungi Ngidi.

Team India will see Rohit and Kohli back in action, but regular ODI skipper Shubman Gill will miss out on the series due to the neck injury he sustained during the Kolkata Test. As a result, Rahul was named the captain of the side and will lead the hosts against Temba Bavuma’s men.

The visitors will be high on confidence after securing a historic 2-0 Test series whitewash against India. However, the hosts will be raring to go and prove a point in the white-ball games, especially amid World Cup selection talks.

–IANS

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