India vs South Africa, First ODI: Battles within a battle

Bengalore: India’s tour of South Africa will kick off with three one-dayers, first of which will be played at Wanderers on December 5. The series has everything in it to be an intriguing one with two tops teams engaged in the battle of supremacy. The Indian team looks pretty good on papers and certainly has the ammunition to meet the needs of the situation at any given time. The South African team on the other hand will be looking to deal fire with fire and has always been a very competitive side.

Here is a look at the battles within a battle as India gears up to take on the Proteas in the first one-day match of the series.

Shikhar Dhawan vs Dale Steyn: Shikhar Dhawan has been at his very best ever since he made his debut against the Aussies in February early this year, and from there on there has been no looking back for this left-hander. He is one of the highest run-scorers in one-day matches in this calendar year and would look to take the attack to Steyn and company in the first ODI. Dale Steyn is famous for his out swingers, and in this case the ball will come back to the left-hander which makes him even more dangerous. Steyn and Dhawan would look to outsmart each other, which makes it one of the battles to watch out for.

Rohit Sharma vs Morne Morkel: Rohit Sharma seems to have hit a purple patch with the bat since Champions League and is batting as good as he has ever done in his entire career. Sharma’s rise in the ranks makes the top order solid. He is renowned for his sound technique which will hold him in good stead in the future as an opener. Morne Morkel on the other hand would look to strike with the new ball and would extract extra bounce from the wicket because of his height which may make life difficult for the batsmen. It would be interesting to see how Sharma deals with the extra pace and bounce of Morkel.

Virat Kohli vs Lonwabo Tsotsobe: Virat Kohli has soon turned himself into a run machine and has recently become the fastest to reach 5000 one-day runs, equaling another great Viv Richards. Kohli’s dominance in the one-day matches can be very well measured with the kind of scores he has got in the past twelve months and has turned himself into a match winner with the bat in hand. Lonwabo Tsotsobe would look to do all that is possible from his end to stop this run machine from India if South Africa has to entertain any thoughts of winning the series.

AB de Villiers vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The South African captain, AB de Villiers, is one of the best players in the world and can take the match away from his opposition within a blink of an eye. His batting along with his wicket-keeping skill makes him one of the players to watch out for in the entire series. If he gets settled, India might have to do fair bit of leather chasing. Bhuvneshwar Kumar might have other ideas as he would look to make the ball talk and pick up de Villiers early before he gets going.

Hashim Amla vs Mohammad Shami: Hashim Amla is one of those players who loves playing against the Indians and has a very good record against them. He is gifted with sound technique and has a good head on his shoulders to go with it. Amla would look to play the sheet anchor’s role and the entire South African team would look to bat around him to try and post a good total or chase down a target. Mohammad Shami, who has been more than impressive with the ball in hand, would like to make full use of the conditions and send Amla packing as soon as possible to increase his team’s chances of winning the match.

Faf du Plessis vs R Ashwin: Faf du Plessis is one of the most exciting players to come up the ranks and holds the South African middle together in the middle overs. He has the ability to play shots all around the wicket and is also very effective in the field. Known to find the boundary easily, du Plessis would look to get after the Indian spinners but R Ashwin might come in the way. Ashwin has a lot of variations which might come in handy in the shorter format of the game and can choke the flow of runs in the middle. This has all the ingredients to make a contest worth watching.