India and South Africa meet in the third and deciding ODI of South Africa’s tour of India at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, with the series in the balance after South Africa levelled it.
India will be frustrated at losing the second match after scoring 358, with Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad both making centuries. Inconsistent bowling and a quick outfield let South Africa get home in the final over. Kohli has back-to-back hundreds, Rohit Sharma has three fifties in his last four innings, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gaikwad and KL Rahul round out the batting. Kuldeep Yadav leads the bowling with five wickets at 7.30 in the series, while Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna have been expensive at times.
South Africa arrive with confidence. Aiden Markram scored 110 off 98 balls last time, Quinton de Kock sets the tone alongside him, and Matthew Breetzke has made 72 and 68 in the series and averages 68 in ODIs this year. Temba Bavuma, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch provide depth, and Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi and Jansen bowled well in the last game.
Whoever bats first may want to add 25 to 30 more runs than usual, as totals can be chased down quickly here. We favour India narrowly.
