SA win toss, opt to bat vs India in 1st ODI

Paarl (South Africa): SouthAfrica won the toss and elected to bat firstagainst India in the first One-Day International match here at Boland Park onWednesday.
KL Rahul, who is leading India for the firsttime in the ODIs, stated that the visitor swanted to bat first too. He also confirmedthat all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer will make hisdebut.
“We would’ve wanted to bat first. We’re always ready to do both things. It (wicket) looks a littlebit dry but we have some quality spinners in our attack. With Bumrah and Bhuvi starting,hopefully they’ll get a couple early with the swing,” said Rahul after losing the toss.
“Venkatesh Iyer is debuting, Shreyas Iyer to bat at four. We just want to try out few things interms of tactics and strategies. Personnel will not change much. Experimentation doesn’t meanwe’ll go in and start hitting from ball one.”
On the other hand, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma confirmed that Marco Jansen will makehis debut after Kagiso Rabada was released from the squad on the eve of the match.
“The wicket looks a bit dry. We would like to make use of the best of the batting conditions.Hopefully, it slows up and the slower bowlers can get in the game,” said Bavuma at the toss.
“It’s an opportunity for us as a one-day team to get our game in order. We’ve got a standardteam. Marco comes in, obviously we don’t have KG available. Two spinners.”
Playing XIs:
India: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), VenkateshIyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, YuzvendraChahal.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen,Temba Bavuma (c), David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, TabraizShamsi, Lungi Ngidi.

About Post Author