India take on South Africa in the fourth ODI of the ongoing six-match series at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday, February 10. The hosts will be sporting pink jerseys as part of their annual campaign to spread breast cancer awareness.
Virat Kohli's men are a win away from becoming the first-ever Indian side to clinch an ODI series in South Africa. The visitors are returning to Johannesburg where they won the only Test of the recently-concluded three-match series after demolishing the hosts in the first three ODIs.
Skipper Kohli has led his team from the front, scoring 318 runs, including two centuries so far. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have picked up 21 wickets between them in three matches as South African batsmen have struggled to deal with wrist spin.
Also read: Pink ODI: South Africa will target 'big dog' Virat Kohli in Wanderers, says Chris Morris
India, who are unlikely to fiddle with the playing XI, will be looking to seal the series as early as on Saturday. Notably, Kohli had said that his team will be playing with a lot of intensity in Wanderers against the South African side, which has looked insipid so far.
However, the hosts are hoping for a reversal of fortunes in Johannesburg as star batsman AB de Villiers, who missed the first three ODIs with a finger injury, is fit and available for selection.
De Villiers seems to love the pink jersey as he has smashed 450 runs from five matches in Pink ODIs at Johannesburg over the years. The 33-year-old has hit two centuries and also scored a match-winning half-century when the pink-clad South African team crushed India by 141 runs in 2013.
South Africa can also take confidence from the fact that they have won all five pink ODIs played in Johannesburg so far. The fit-again De Villiers has played a key role in all their matches and the onus will be on the big-hitter to do it once again for the team on Saturday.
However, South African batters' struggles against Indian spinners seems to be a more complex problem and De Villiers will need support from the other end if the hosts are to end India's juggernaut in the ongoing series.
The Proteas may look at dropping one of the two out-of-form batsmen in David Miller and Khaya Zondo and bring in seasoned campaigner Farhaan Behardien to provide stability to the middle-order.
When is the match and how to watch it live
The Pink ODI between South Africa and India will start at 4:30pm IST, 1pm local time, 11am GMT.
Live streaming and TV coverage
India: TV: Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3; Live streaming: Sony LIV
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2; Live streaming: SuperSport live
UK: TV: Sky Sports Cricket; Live streaming: Sky Go
US: Willow TV
Squads
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Lungisani Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaya Zondo, Farhaan Behardien, Heinrich Klaasen (wk)
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
