India vs South Africa Live Score 1st ODI: Sai Sudharsan makes his ODI debut | Cricket News

India vs South Africa 1st ODI Live Score: KL Rahul-led Team India will look to start the 3-match ODI series on a winning note when they take on a buoyant South African team at Johannesburg on Sunday. With usual suspects Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli rested in the series, Rahul will hope to strengthen his captaincy credentials in the 50-over format.India are coming off the back of a 1-1 T20 series draw with the Proteas and a lot of players in that team will also be vying for a place in the ODI XI, especially Rinku Singh, who has been pretty consent in the T20 format and is likely to make his debut on Sunday.
Sanju Samson makes his return to the ODI set up after being snubbed from the 2023 World Cup squad and he’ll possibly be batting in the No.5 slot as hinted skipper Rahul in the pre-match press conference. Players like Rajat Patidar as well as Sai Sudharsan might get a chance to start the innings for India as they build towards the 2025 Champions Trophy.
This is also the first ODI match Team India will play after that heartbreaking final loss to Australia in November. Even though India decimated the Australians 4-1 in the T20I series just after the World Cup, the sting of that loss at the Narendra Modi Stadium will be pretty hard to forget.
Meanwhile in the Proteas side, there are likely to be new faces making their debuts as well with Tony de Zorzi and Nandre Burger, the latter who made his T20I bow in the last match which India won in this same venue 106 runs, waiting in the wings to create an impact in the absence of names like Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Gerald Coetzee.
The two teams have met each other 91 times in the 50-over format with the hosts holding a considerable advantage over the visitors with 50 wins. India, meanwhile, have come out on top on 38 occasions and 3 encounters did not yield a result.
The last time these two sides met in an ODI was in the recently concluded World Cup in India where the Men in Blue obliterated the Proteas 243 runs as Virat Kohli equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record with his 49th ODI century at the Eden Gardens.