Here's how captain Kohli redeemed himself on Thursday.
South Africa have won the toss and asked India to field first in the opening ODI of the six-match series at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban on Thursday.
Following the toss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that even he would have opted to bat first had he won the toss because of the conditions around.
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"We would have batted first here as well. It's a pretty easy decision because of the conditions around. Playing two wrist spinners and Kedar as the offie, along with Bhuvi and Bumrah, gives us an opportunity to do whatever we have to do. We've played good cricket at this ground always. We'll have good crowd support too. Like I said, the balance of our team gives us the opportunity to have a crack at both innings equally," he said.
Faf du Plessis, on the other hand, revealed that Aiden Markram is playing in place of the swashbuckling batsman AB de Villiers, who is out with a finger injury. Markram will come to bat at number four spot while Imran Tahir is also back in the squad.
"Looks a pretty good wicket. The Kingsmead wicket speeds up a bit. Aiden Markram comes in. He will be batting at No.4. It would be a nice opportunity for him to be batting at a new number. The rest of the team is our usual ODI team. Imran has been the key to our success for the last one and a half year," said Faf.
Meanwhile, India have called in Ajinkya Rahane to bat at No.4 spot. There has been heated debate about Rahane's inclusion in India's playing XI ever since the squad landed in South Africa. After facing a lot of flak for leaving Rahane out in the first two Tests, and the right-hander subsequently making a strong comeback in the third Test, Kohli didn't take any chances and went in with the experienced Mumbaikar on Thursday.
Rahane was jostling with Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer for a spot in the middle-order. His match-winning performance in India's second innings in the third Test might've worked well in his favour.
Fresh from the victory in the third Test at Wanderers, India will aim to clinch the number one spot in the ICC ODI team rankings with a series win. India are currently on 119 rating points while South Africa is at 120.
It should be noted that India have never won a one-day international series in South Africa, but now the visitors will aim to break the jinx. Also, the Virat Kohli-led side have not lost a single series in this format in the past two years. They last lost to Australia in January 2016.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (capt.), Aiden Markram, JP Duminy, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
(Inputs from ANI)
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