India will be bowling in the potential series decider against South Africa after they lost the toss in the second ODI match in Ranchi. Meanwhile Shikhar Dhawan has made a couple of changes in the side, handing debut to Shahbaz Ahmed in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Furthermore, Washington Sundar, who has replaced Deepak Chahar, is also playing in place of Ravi Bishnoi. On the other hand, South Africa have also made a couple of changes.
“We are gonna have a bat, looks like a good wicket. Shamsi and Temba didn’t wake up feeling too well this morning, so Reeza Hendricks and Bjorn Fortuin are coming in for them. Hopefully we can try and utilize the conditions, assess it upfrontg and play it from there, said skipper Keshav Maharaj.
Meanwhile, Dhawan said that he too wanted to chase.
“We would have bowled first actually, there is going to be dew in the second innings and we are gonna take advantage of that. Two changes for us. Washington Sundar coming in and Shahbaz Ahmed is making his debut today. Ruturaj and Ravi Bishnoi are out.”
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India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson(w), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan
South Africa (Playing XI): Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj(c), Bjorn Fortuin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
The three-match ODI series in India offers little incentive to the fringe players who have missed the flight to Australia.
But with BCCI revealing Chahar complained of a stiff back following the third T20I against South Africa ahead of the first ODI in Lucknow, it gives India plenty of soul-searching to do. They had named allrounder Washington Sundar as his replacement for the remaining two matches of the series.
Mohammad Siraj and Avesh Khan have so far failed to impress and that could have opened the door for uncapped Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar.
On the batting front, it will be important for Shreyas Iyer to score some runs under his belt as the top-order batter is among the reserve batters for the T20 World Cup.
(With agencies)
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