South Africa vs India 1st ODI Match Prediction – Who will win the match?

After a painful loss in the Test series against South Africa, it will be up to the Indian side to replicate the dominance they had in the same soil four years back. The previous visit in 2018 yielded the visitors a 5-1 win over the South African side in the six-match ODI series and the KL Rahul-led side will be looking to take a leaf out of that book. This will also mark the first time that Virat Kohli will be playing as a pure batter after taking up the captaincy in 2017 in the 50-over format.

Meanwhile, South Africa will have a lot to cherish after the historic Test series win over India and they will be riding high on confidence coming into the series. It will still remain a stern task for the Proteas side as they do have some inexperience in the batting order when compared to the likes of the subcontinent side. Ravichandran Ashwin is also expected to make a comeback into the Indian ODI side after a gap of more than four years.

Match Details:

South Africa vs India 1st ODI

Venue: Boland Park

Date & Time: January 19th at 2:00 PM IST and 10:30 PM Local Time

Where to Watch:  Sony Sports network

Pitch Report:

“Win the toss and bat first” will be the mantra for the first ODI according to the average scores on the pitch so far. The Paarl pitch has been difficult to defend and being a day game, the heat will be one of the factors to deal with. Any score around 300 is expected to be match-winning at the venue.

Average score: 243 (13 ODIs at Boland Park)

Record of chasing teams: Won-5, Lost -8

Probable Playing XIs for SA vs IND:

South Africa

Quinton de Kock(wk), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

India

Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(wk), Venkatesh Iyer, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa vs India Head-to-Head

Matches– 84, South Africa – 46, India – 35, N/R- 3

Probable top performers

Janneman Malan – South Africa

Janneman Malan will be one of the names that the Indian fans might know well about after the ongoing ODI series as the former has had an excellent start to his international career. He is expected to be the surprise package that India will have to face and the 25-year-old will be looking to make a big statement against the quality Indian pace attack.

KL Rahul – India

The skipper KL Rahul has been the man in form for the Indian side so far in the South Africa tour and he will be looking to lead the way by scoring big at the top of the order. His numbers in the IPL when he has captained the Punjab Kings, are exceptional and it might be the same way around in the first ODI too.

Today’s match prediction: India to win the match.

Disclaimer: This prediction is based on the understanding, analysis, and instinct of the author. While making your prediction, consider the points mentioned, and make your own decision. This whole portion to go in disclaimer.