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Centurion: India will aim to salvage some pride by winning the third one-dayer against South Africa on Wednesday, in order to gain confidence ahead of the two-Test series.
It will be redemption time for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men at the Super Sport Park after two embarrassing losses in the first two matches which also exposed the famed batting line-up's inability to cope with pace and bounce of the South African tracks.
India suffered a 141-run rout in the first ODI at Wanderers and then another 135-run defeat in the second ODI at Kingsmead. A contest that started with questions about the visitors' bowling line-up has turned into an uncomfortable one about their young batting order.
That aptly describes India's journey from Johannesburg to Durban, and back. In the first ODI, a poor bowling performance was enough to absolve the batsmen of not standing up to some superb South African bowling.
In the second ODI, those excuses vaporized, given that the pitch was considerably slower. Yet the results were alarmingly similar.
While the 359-run chase was never on, 281 was a more probable target. Dale Steyn's opening spell in both the ODIs left India in the lurch, and by the time he finished his first five overs on each occasion, the contests were as good as over.
It highlights the fire in Steyn's belly at the moment, and his desire to do well against a batting line-up that until now was riding high on confidence and self-belief. That bit has now been wiped clear by some sensational fast bowling.
It also reflects on how top-heavy this Indian batting has become. Ahead of the series, it was a celebratory fact that Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, each of them had a thousand runs in ODIs this calendar year.
The wretched form of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh has also been a cause of concern for the skipper. They didn't come to the tour with a particularly good recent record. Both their individual averages, in the nine ODIs against Australia and West Indies at home, hovered around the 20-mark.
One of the biggest arguments in favour of Raina and Yuvraj is their ability to bowl part-time spinners particularly in sub-continental conditions when flat wickets at home leave even a five-pronged attach toothless.
Even in the second ODI, wherein the Indian bowling attack bounced back from their pedestrian display at Johannesburg and restricted the Proteas to just 280 runs, the nine overs bowled by Raina and Virat Kohli proved vital in the greater scheme of things.
As far as the South Africans are concerned, having exposed the top-ranked ODI side in alien conditions, it will be well deserved should they choose to alter their line-up for this final limited-overs game of their calendar year.
It has been hinted that Jacques Kallis and Steyn might be given a break, giving a partly new-look to their XI at Centurion.
Teams from:
India: MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu and Ajinkya Rahane.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (Capt.), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Match facts
Wednesday December 11, 2013 (day/night)
Start time 13:30 local (1130 GMT, 5pm IST)
