Big picture: SA look to avoid another home series defeat

As action moves to Gqeberha, and to a day-night match, you'd hope for more even conditions that don't change dramatically during the match. Gqeberha has not hosted an ODI in more than four years, but it has not been a high-scoring venue. It has gone 12 years and eight ODIs without a score of 300. As it is generally the slowest and lowest of the surfaces among mainstream South African venues, India will hope to close out the series there. For South Africa, the next two are must-win matches to avoid a fourth home series defeat in ODIs since April 2021, certainly not a proud record to have.

There is more to look forward to from the new talent that has emerged during the limited-overs leg of the tour. Nandre Burger has impressed with his sustained pace and movement, and Sai Sudharsan made an eye-catching fifty on debut.

Form guide

South Africa LLWLW

India WLWWW

In the spotlight: Sai Sudharsan and Reeza Hendricks

Team news

If the Gqeberha track stays true to nature, South Africa could be expected to play both the spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi. Shreyas Iyer is leaving to join the Test team, and so Rajat Patidar is the favourite to take his place.

South Africa (probable): 1 Reeza Hendricks, 2 Tony de Zorzi, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram (capt.), 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Wiaan Mulder, 9 Nandre Burger, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi

India (probable): 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 KL Rahul (capt. & wk), 6 Sanju Samson, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Arshdeep Singh, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mukesh Kumar

Pitch and conditions

The weather is set fair, and the pitch is usually not the quickest. Don't expect record-breaking scores.

Stats and trivia

Quotes

"We went for dinner last night - me, Axar [Patel] and Avesh [Khan] - and we were talking about how brutal Proteas are when they wear pink jerseys and how they hit sixes when they are in this jersey. So we were just talking about keeping them under 400." - Arshdeep Singh, having bowled South Africa out for 116.

"When you are trying to build a brand and a style of play, you are potentially going to have those contrasting experiences. That's where the learning happens. That's the journey for us. When it's good, we are really good. When conditions are good, we can score 400 but how do we still find our way to 280 on a tough wicket? That's the question for us." - JP Duminy