It was a good pitch in Ranchi during the first one-day international and hence, both teams' batting orders had a good day, but having South Africa three down for 11, India will be a bit disappointed with their bowling effort in the last 20 overs, letting the Proteas stretch to 332, with Marco Jansen, Matthew Breetzke and Corbin Bosch scoring big and quick runs in the latter half of the innings. Eventually, India had enough runs on the board, having reached 349 owing to a Virat Kohli special on the home soil of former India captain MS Dhoni.
India went in with a different batting order in the first ODI, with the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja returning to the fold for the side in the format. While India won the game, there was a feeling that India left a few runs out there, despite accumulating 80 off the final over as KL Rahul took some 40 balls to get going, while Washington Sundar at No 5 was a total misfire, building up dot balls. India have an option of playing someone like Rishabh Pant at No 5, but will India take that call after just one game?
Sundar bowled just three overs in Ranchi, but India, in the new setup, like to take enough and more bowling options with them into a game, irrespective of the format. Even though KL Rahul didn't bowl Washington much because of the three right-handers in the middle going hammer and tongs, having a sixth bowling option is always good in an ODI. So whose place is vulnerable? Gaikwad probably?
However, it has been just one game and to be fair to Gaikwad, Dewald Brevis grabbed a proper hanger to get rid of him at point and there was nothing the right-hander could have done. If India win the second ODI in Raipur, then the hosts might seek a change in the series finale in Vizag, but might stick to the same XI for one more game, while South Africa look to bounce back.
India predicted playing XI for 2nd ODI: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c) (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
