South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI – Match Predictions

After conceding a 2-0 lead in the ODI series, the South Africans are under pressure ahead of the third game which is going to be played at Newlands, Cape Town on Wednesday. If India manage to win this one, they will have an unassailable advantage in the series which will be an extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable position for the hosts.

While everyone is aware of the capability of this Indian ODI unit, the way they have dominated in the first two games has impressed even the critics. They have absolutely dismissed the Proteas with disdain and that’s something which doesn’t happen to the Proteas too often at home.

Probable nature of the pitch

The Newlands pitch generally happens to be a quick and bouncy surface, but the lateral movement is not always present there. However, they had left a lot of grass on the surface during the first Test match and it shouldn’t be surprising if they prepare a similar sort of deck again.

The South African batsmen have looked completely clueless against the Indian wrist spinners and they will certainly not want another pitch where the ball grips and turns for Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Going with the green surface, however, may backfire for South Africa as India also have good pace bowling resources in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.

India mostly prefer to chase in ODI cricket and one of the main reasons behind that is their captain Virat Kohli who is almost a “chasing machine”. Virat, during a chase, operates just like a Robot who has been programmed to execute it to perfection. The chances are pretty bright if India win the toss, they will field.

South Africa may also like to bowl first for a change as they have lost twice batting first, but playing the wrist spinners with the scoreboard pressure may turn out to be pretty nasty. The par score in the three List A matches this year at Newlands is 246 and if the curators dish out a green track, we might have a low scoring game again.

Playing Combination

South Africa

There will be a few changes in the South African XI. One of that will be a forced change as the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock aggravated his wrist injury in Centurion and has now been ruled out of the rest of the series. Heinrich Klaasen who was added to the squad ahead of the last game as a standby will take de Kock’s place and make his ODI debut.

The Proteas may slot in Farhaan Behardien at No. 5 for an out of touch David Miller who has registered two single-digit scores in the series so far. Behardien is a tad better player of spin in comparison and spin is South Africa’s biggest problem at the moment in the middle overs. So they may turn to the 34-year old right-hander hoping he provides them some kind of solidity against the Chahal-Kuldeep duo.

Also, Andile Phehlukwayo is likely to regain his spot in the XI replacing Tabraiz Shamsi who was ineffective on a spin-friendly wicket at SuperSport Park.

Predicted XI: Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram (C), Khaya Zondo, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

India

For India, it should be an unchanged XI as almost every player did what was expected of them. While the fast bowlers were decent enough, the spinners wreaked havoc by sharing 8 wickets among them for 42 runs. The batsmen at the top of the order played well too. Rohit Sharma set the tone in a modest chase with a few boundaries early on and Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli saw off the chase with utmost ease after Rohit’s dismissal.

Rohit has been hitting the ball well and he would be slightly disappointed with the manner of his dismissals in the last two games. The Indian vice-captain will be keen to bat long at Newlands.

Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

Here’s what we, at CricTracker predict will be the final result:

Probable Top Performers

Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) | Rohit Sharma – (India)

Head to Head

Total games played – 79| South Africa won – 45| India won – 31| N/R – 3

Timing of the match: 04:30 pm IST, 11:00 am GMT, 01:00 pm Local Time

Broadcast Details

TV – Sony Ten 1 (English Commentary), Sony Ten 3 (Hindi Commentary)

Live streaming – SonyLIV

The prediction is for India to win the contest and take a 3-0 lead in the series.