India v South Africa Preview: 1st ODI Predictions & Tips

South Africa head to India for a three-game One Day International series full of condfidence after seeing off Australia. Can Mark Boucher's men make it back-to-back ODI series wins?

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India v South Africa: 1st ODI Predictions & Betting Tips

Thursday, March 12 – 08:00 GMT – Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala

South Africa’s first ODI series win in 12 months and the first under coach Mark Boucher will give the Proteas plenty of confidence as they go to India for a short tour.

The Proteas have plenty of options with the bat when it comes to team selection with Heinrich Klaasen giving himself a great chance to get out in the middle again.

Klaasen featured in all three wins over Australia and was only dismissed once. He registered scores of 51 plus 123 and 68 not out as Boucher’s men battled hard for a series win.

Other batsmen looking to get the nod in India, include Janneman Malan – who also impressed against the Aussies, while Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne, JJ Smuts, David Miller and Quinton de Kock are all capable of producing big scores.

Malan was originally not selected in the squad to tour India, but he showed what he could do with the bat against Australia and has been handed a place on merit.

In their third ODI win over Australia, Klaasen smashed 68 from 63 deliveries with only one boundary, while JJ Smuts was dynamic with the willow as he reached 84 off 94 balls with 12 fours.

With the ball in hand, they will be looking towards the likes of Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi to get the bulk of the wickets. It will be tough going for the bowlers in India and if they can get an early breakthrough, they will need to work hard to build on it.

India have been boosted with the return of key trio Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan for the visit of South Africa.

Rohit Sharma, who missed the tour of New Zealand through injury has not been cleared to return, while Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Mayank Agarwal have all been omitted despite being in the squad in New Zealand.

India had a mixed tour over in New Zealand. They won their five-game T20 series 5-0, but they lost the ODI series 3-0. They played two Test matches in New Zealand as well and they failed to win any of them.

They will be hoping their T20 form carries over into the 50-over game, but they are coming up against a South Africa side full of confidence and swagger – it’s amazing what a run of victories can do. This will be an entertaining contest, but I’m backing the tourists to come out on top in this one.

I’ve already mentioned how well South Africa’s batsmen are shaping up at the minute, so I’m tipping Malan to be their top scoring, while Virat Kohli is a good tip to top score for India.

India v South Africa Preview: Team line-ups

India squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (capt), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill

South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj

India v South Africa Preview: Predictions & Tips