MELBOURNE:
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and sent his team in to bat first in their World Cup Pool B clash against South Africa in Melbourne on Sunday.
India have named an unchanged lineup from the team that won their World Cup opener against Pakistan in Adelaide last Sunday, while South Africa have dropped Farhaan Behardien in favour of another all-rounder, Wayne Parnell.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground’s drop-in pitch is generally a good batting wicket and warm, northerly winds on a steaming, hot day could mean a tough afternoon for South Africa’s pace attack, though spinner Imran Tahir will be called on to provide relief from one end.
India will rely on their top batting lineup to sustain their momentum after their big win over arch-rivals Pakistan snapped a dreadful buildup to the tournament.
South Africa are also looking to build on their comfortable win over neighbours Zimbabwe but will hope to avoid another top-order collapse which forced David Miller and JP Duminy to rescue their innings with a pair of centuries.
South Africa have never been beaten by India in three previous World Cup clashes and won five of the last six ODI matches the teams played.
Wicketkeeper and opening batsman Quinton de Kock has hit centuries in all three of his ODI innings against India, whose most in-form batsman Virat Kohli has struggled the most against the Proteas’ bowlers out of any international attack.
Teams:
India – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav
South Africa – Hashim Amla (captain), Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, David Miller, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel (Editing by John O’Brien)
-Reuters
