The 3 match ODI series against South Africa begins today at Dharamshala. After a disappointing performance in New Zealand, the Indian team is back in the comfort of home conditions. The trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar are back, which definitely is good news. However, will Rohit Sharma be missed?
Quinton de Kock is also returning from a poor series against Australia.
With both Captains eager to reclaim the glory, who do you think will win this ODI series?
India’s record:
| Opponent | South Africa |
|---|---|
| Matches | 84 |
| Won | 35 |
| Lost | 46 |
| Tied | 0 |
INDIA : 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.
IN : Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan
OUT : Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Agarwal
Kedar, Mayank fall out of favour, Dube has to make way for Hardik, Shami rested and Bhuvi IN, Shardul is out too.
Shaw and Shikhar are sure to open in First ODI. Shubhman has to wait, Let’s see if Shaw hands him a chance!
Bumrah & Bhuvi have won 31/41 when they played together. But, it wouldn’t be wise to expect Bhuvi to fire right away, Let’s wait.
Let’s see whether India starts with two all rounders OR two wrist spinners! Answer in a few hours.(It would be very tough call to sit out Jaddu.)
Kohli will be keen on returning to scoring as he eyes Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI records. Tendulkar holds the record for fastest batsman to complete 12,000 runs in the 50-overs cricket. Kohli is just 133 runs away from 12,000 runs in ODI cricket.
Kohli has 11,867 runs in just 239 innings (248 matches).
FASTEST TO 12,000 ODI RUNS
Sachin Tendulkar in 300 innings
Ricky Ponting in 314 innings
Kumar Sangakkara in 336 innings
Sanath Jayasuriya in 379 innings
Mahela Jayawardene in 399 innings
MOST RUNS SCORED IN INDIA-SOUTH AFRICA ODIS
Sachin Tendulkar - 2001 runs in 57 matches
Jacques Kallis - 1535 runs in 37 matches
Gary Kirsten - 1377 runs in 26 matches
AB de Villiers - 1357 runs in 32 matches
Sourav Ganguly - 1313 runs in 29 matches
Rahul Dravid - 1309 runs in 36 matches
Virat Kohli - 1287 runs in 27 matches
Will Kohli surprise with 3 spinners and Shaw/Shikhar sitting out? Not much likely but Sanju Manju thinks it’s a possibility.
Toss has been delayed due to wet conditions. It has been raining in Dharamshala since last 2 days. Long delay is not expected as there it is not raining now.
42 over match
2:55 Toss
3:15 match start
Virat Kohli
•Last 4 Odis Inns in Home - 85, 16, 78, 89
•Last 6 Odis Inns vs SA - 112, 46*,160*, 75, 36, 129*
•Last 4 Odis Inns In March - 116, 123, 7, 20
•Last 2 Odis Inns In HPCA Dharamsala - 127, 80+
Best Batsman in The World On Full Charged.
It looks like first one day match will get abandoned…Same thing happen when SA team tour India in 2019, first t20 gets washed out at Dharamshala…Dharamshala stadium has always the problem of rain and there is no sense in keeping the matches at the ground.
Rains are unrelenting and the match is abandoned. 
Incidentally, Last year, when SA traveled here, the 1st T20 match was in Dharamsala and that was also abandoned due to rain.
Beauty comes at a price! If you want to play at the most picturesque stadium with cooler temperatures compared to rest of the country, then that’s the risk you take and the price you pay. 
On a serious note, wonder why these natural factors are not considered and a reserve day not planned!? We see this happening even at World Cup level…as recently as ICC T20 Women’s World Cup when England had to face elimination due to rain.
Commercial compulsions. Now the goal is to pack as many matches as possible.
Plus, now tours have to accommodate three formats rather than two.
Beautiful Dharmshala Stadium,
Here the matches are done only to show the beauty of the place
India’s remaining two ODIs against South Africa in Lucknow and Kolkata called off in wake of COVID-19 pandemic: BCCI official
SA to come back at a later date to play rescheduled 3 ODI series.
