India will take on South Africa in the third and final ODI at the Boland Park in Paarl on Thursday. After losing in the first ODI, the Proteas won the second ODI convincingly and managed to keep the series alive. Tony de Zorzi's unbeaten 122-ball 119 guided his side home. However, the KL Rahul-led side will be aiming for a better performance in the third match to claim the three-match series. Young opener Sai Sudarshan, who made his international in the first ODI, has been in superb form, smashing half-centuries in both matches.
With a similar storyline of faltering opening combination running through the first two matches, India's hopes of registering their second ODI series win in South Africa will revolve around a solid start from the openers.
India's only ODI series win in the Rainbow nation came in 2018, and for an encore, they need a robust start from Ruturaj Gaikwad and B Sai Sudharsan as a pair.
Sai Sudharsan was impressive in his two outings in the series so far, scoring 55 and 62. But Gaikwad could not support him from the other end. The right-hander fell for five and four as India's first wicket alliance ended at 23 and four in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
In contrast, South African openers Tony de Zorzi, who smashed his maiden century, and Reeza Hendricks milked 130 runs to end the chase.
Similarly, Tilak Varma, who showed some promise early in his career, seemed to have tapered off in recent months.
Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan performed perfect demolition work in the first match and the former remained economical in the second match as well. So, it is imperative for Mukesh to find his rhythm with the new ball and pick up a few wickets beforehand to keep South Africa in the background.
The team management could also think of giving a match to veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, whose tour to SA ends tomorrow.
India's predicted XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C), Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan/Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar
(With PTI inputs)
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