South Africa opt to bat first in series opener

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat first at the beautiful Kingsmead Ground in Durban.

New Delhi: South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat first at the beautiful Kingsmead Ground in Durban.

India will look to the shed their poor record against Proteas at this particular venue. They have lost 6 of their 7 matches and 1 ending in a draw.

Virat Kohli returns to the ODI squad after missing the entire limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. He will replace young Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI.

The debate over India’s No.4 spot in the batting order seems to be over after Virat Kohli backed Ajinkya Rahane to take the responsibility. The 28-year-old will come in for Dinesh Karthik.

South Africa, on the other hand, will miss the services of dynamic AB de Villiers, who misses out of the first three One-day international due to a finger injury.

Aiden Markram is all set to start for the hosts in AB de Villiers’ absence.

Squad:

SA XI: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada

IND XI: Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal.