The chatter around the volatile dressing room environment notwithstanding, India will rely on Virat Kohli's imperious form and Rohit Sharma's indomitable presence to seal a series victory over a doughty South Africa in the second ODI, in Raipur on Wednesday.
A record-extending 52nd ODI century by Kohli and a rapid 57 from Rohit paved the way for India's 17-run win in the series-opener at Ranchi, where the home bowlers endured a spirited fightback from the Proteas before managing to stop them.
With the 2027 ODI World Cup two years away, Kohli and Rohit are not only auditioning every match to prove their fitness and form but are also reportedly managing growing differences with head coach Gautam Gambhir. The issue has dominated the off-field talk and is expected to have the BCCI stepping in at some point.
Having set up two consecutive victories for India in last as many ODIs -- including a nine-wicket hammering of Australia at Sydney in October -- Kohli and Rohit have shown they will everything possible to be on that flight to the World Cup in South Africa.
Both the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and Gambhir have remained non-committal about their participation in the World Cup and that has probably been at the centre of the simmering tensions between the two sides.
However, India have a lot more to worry about despite the opening win. For starters, the combination does not seem perfectly aligned. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has built an impressive record in List A cricket, was pushed from opening to No 4. He did not look completely conditioned for the role, with stand-in captain KL Rahul staunchly defending his position at No 6.
Washington Sundar is not new to such experiments as the Tamil Nadu all-rounder, who batted at No 3 in Kolkata Test against the Proteas, has seen plenty of changes in his batting positions. But in the first ODI at No 5, he too was among the batters dismissed in a phase where India slowed down. And again for an all-rounder, Washington also had another light day in terms of bowling as he sent down only three overs for 18 runs.
To his credit, Harshit Rana did a lot of good to his reputation with two wickets upfront with the new ball but his knack of giving away runs later on will require the all-rounder to bring in more control, especially when only one ball is allowed to play with after the 34th over.
In their bid to restore balance between bat and ball, the ICC's new rule allows only one ball from the existing two to be continued with from 34-50 overs. Kuldeep Yadav snaffled key wickets for a match haul of 4/68 and even though he was a shade expensive, his variation proved to be the difference as South Africa fell short but then, not by a big margin.
South Africa will indeed take a lot of heart in their inspired comeback after being reduced to 11/3 at one stage. On a flat deck, Marco Jansen tore into the Indian bowlers once again for a minute-a-mile half-century (off 26 balls), scoring a strokeful 70 off 39 balls.
Matthew Breetzke notched up a fine 72 in his first ODI against India to lead a comeback for South Africa while their long tail, which includes the dangerous Corbin Bosch, threatened to take the game away from India.
South Africa played in the first ODI without their regular skipper Temba Bavuma and Keshav Maharaj, who both were rested after their historic Test series win. But the Proteas are expected to bolster their squad with their return.
Like Guwahati where the hosts were not too accustomed with the pitch and conditions, the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in the Chhattisgarh capital is also relatively unfamiliar.
In the only ODI played here at this venue, India made light work of New Zealand in January 2023 when Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj exploited sharp seam movement off the pitch to bowl the Kiwis out for a mere 108. The hosts completed an eight-wicket win with nearly 30 overs to spare.
Even the only T20I played here in December 2023, against Australia, was also not a high-scoring affair which India won by 20 runs after putting on 174/9.
Teams (from):
India: KL Rahul (c&wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann (wk), Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Prenelan Subrayen, Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.
Match starts at 1:30pm IST.
