After defeating South Africa in the first two ODIs, India is now the favourite to win the series. Given the fact that AB De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis will be away due to injuries enhances India’s chances even further. Today the third ODI will be played at Cape Town.
In the second ODI we saw a brilliant knock by Shikhar Dhawan as he smashed a nice half century.
In the bowling department the Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 5 wickets and registered his best career figures. It looked like a balanced and there’s no reason why India would want to change the playing XI with which India played the first two ODIs.
Here’s the predicted XI for India for the second ODI
1. Openers
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
2. Middle Order
One Down: Virat Kohli
Two Down : Ajinkya Rahane
Three Down: MS Dhoni
Fourth Down: Kedhar Jadhav
After the brilliant Knock in the first ODi, Ajinkya Rahane is a must have in the playing XI. Ajinkya Rahane played a handsome innings of 79 from 86 balls. It would not make any sense to make him sit out. Kedhar Jadhav like the first ODI and the second ODI might be preferred to Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey as he forms the sixth bowling option.
3. All Rounders
Hardik Pandya
He’s India’s Premier all Rounder. He would make a handsome batsman in the lower middle order and the fifth bowler of the team.
4. Bowlers
Yuzvendra Chahal
Kuldeep Yadav
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Jasprit Bumrah
The most perfect balance of spin and pace. There’s no reason why India would want to stir any changes in the bowling combination.
With the same playing XI as in Durban and The Centurion India is most likely to win the third ODI and take an invincible lead in the series. If India gets its third straight win the series today then it would be almost impossible for the Proteas to stage a comeback and India would surely not be losing the series then.
