Green pitch, overcast skies await India in Durban

In their first match on the tour of South Africa in 2006-07, India were bowled out for 91 in a 157-run defeat. Four years later they were blown away for 136 in a thrashing by an innings. On this tour it was the turn of their bowlers to be given a rude welcome. Rude enough for Dale Steyn to surmise that their bowling as it is won’t work, and their batsmen were a little frightened. Once again, India find themselves in a familiar situation of trying to salvage the tour. One more similar day, and they will already have lost the ODI series. There is no time for pleasantries on this whistle-stop tour.
There is going to be no let-up in South Africa’s intent. During Johannesburg, some commentators wondered why they weren’t given similarly quick pitches against Pakistan. They won’t have much to complain about here; India have come to a green pitch in Durban, which is hard to distinguish from the square. It is overcast with spells of rain, and is expected to stay so during Sunday too. A tailor couldn’t have cut India’s task out better.
South Africa, though, won’t want to be complacent. They have been in this position before, and have dropped the ball previously too. Against India in 2010-11, they came here jubilant after an innings win, had a somewhat similar pitch and overhead conditions to work with, but were caught out by a rejuvenated India attack that included Zaheer Khan. South Africa have lost a Test here to Sri Lanka, too. Crowd-wise, Durban will be almost a home venue for India. The hosts won’t want to give the spectators much to cheer about.
Team news
Vernon Philander, who tripped a day before the first ODI and injured his shoulder, is fit and available for selection. That can’t be good news for India. He would have loved the conditions at the Wanderers, and will here too. He should replace one out of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell in the XI. An injured Imran Tahir is 50-50 for the selection, but an educated guess after looking at the pitch says he will not be needed.
South Africa (likely) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk) 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Vernon Philander, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe/Wayne Parnell
India doesn’t have many quick fixes to their problems. Most of the repair work will have to be done by the same personnel. They could think of bringing in Ajinya Rahane ahead of possibly Yuvraj Singh. Their Test specialists have stayed back in Johannesburg so a slightly drastic step of including Cheteshwar Pujara to bring in solidity has been ruled out. With the ball they might want to bring in a quicker bowler after their first-choice bowlers were found short on pace and menace. Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma are their options. It will be interesting to see if they go for a fourth quick.
India (likely) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh/Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Umesh Yadav/Ishant Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mohit Sharma