South Africa captain Aiden Markram won
the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the third and final ODI of
the three-match series here at Boland Park on Thursday.
Rajat Patidar handed his ODI cap. After
India’s commanding victory in the series-opener, Proteas turned the tables
around and registered an 8-wicket win in the second ODI at Gqeberha.
“Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn’t fully recovered
from the blow he sustained to his ring finger while fielding in the second ODI.
He remains under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” BCCI announced on
social media X.
Markram said, “We’ll bowl first. Looks
like a good wicket, won’t change too much. We want to keep challenging
ourselves, hopefully, we can take wickets regularly and restrict them to a low
total. One last push for most of the guys before a nice break, we’ll try our
best. Expect more of the same as we did in the second ODI. The dimensions here
are certainly different, so running hard between wickets will be key. No
changes.”
India skipper KL Rahul said, “Not
really. The wicket will be even for both innings and the lights come on pretty
late here. We got ourselves to a good position but ended up losing 5 wickets
for 40-odd runs. Once we get a good start, we have to make it count. Today is
another opportunity for the boys to prove themselves.”
South Africa (Playing XI): Reeza
Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich
Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lizaad
Williams and Beuran Hendricks.
India (Playing XI): Sai Sudharsan, Sanju
Samson, Rajat Patidar, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul(w/c), Rinku Singh, Washington
Sundar, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar.
ANI
