SA Vs Ind, 2nd ODI: Visitors Win Toss, Opt To Bat First

KL Rahul-led India won the toss and opted to bat first against South Africa in the second ODI of the three-match series here at Boland Park, Paarl on Friday.
With the series on the line, India will be looking to bounce back in the second ODI at Paarl. Visitors have a lot to ponder after succumbing to a 31-run defeat against the Proteas in the first ODI. South Africa outclassed Indians in all three departments of the game and visitors will now be looking to make a comeback in this do-or-die clash.
For hosts, Sisanda Magala replaced Marco Jansen because of the workload on the latter.

At the time of toss, India skipper KL Rahul said: “I think it’s pretty straightforward, second game on the same strip and important to put runs on the board and guessing the wicket will get slower later on. In the middle overs we couldn’t get the partnerships going and that’s the learning from the last game, hopefully we can go out there today and show better performance. The batters themselves realized that’s where it went wrong, we will learn from it and we have spoken about it. We are playing the same team.”

At the time of toss, South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said: “We probably would have wanted to bat first. Like KL said it’s quite straightforward. Saying that, I think there will be an opportunity where in the first hour with the ball nipping a bit. We got ourselves in a bit of a pickle losing wickets up front but the big partnership between Rassie and I got us going. Bowling was 80-85% on. We want to get even better from the last game, try to improve those five percenters. We’d like to seal the series now, but in saying that we’re going to have to do the basics well. One change, Sisanda Magala. comes in for Marco Jansen. Marco’s had a big workload, so we felt he was a bit flat in the first game. We’ve got full confidence in Magala.”

India’s Playing XI: KL Rahul(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(wk), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

South Africa’s Playing XI: Quinton de Kock(wk), Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma(c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Sisanda Magala, and Tabraiz Shamsi. (ANI)