India will face a charged-up South Africa at Boland Park, Paarl in the second of the three One Day Internationals to be played. South Africa, who won the first ODI by 31 runs at the same venue, are up 1-0 against India currently in the ongoing ODI series.

Earlier, South Africa had won the three-match Test series 2-1, conceding just the first game to India and winning the next two. As India looks for redemption, below are a few noteworthy points ahead of the second ODI.

Indian middle order needs answers

The Indian middle order struggled considerably against the Protea bowlers in the first ODI. Shikhar Dhawan (79 off 84) and Virat Kohli (51 off 63) were the only players to contribute healthily in the top half of India’s batting order.

Only Shardul Thakur, at 50* (43), made it past the 20-run mark, leaving a lot to be desired off the middle order. The batters will have to regroup to make a mark in the second ODI.

Possible changes in India’s playing XI

Since Venkatesh Iyer was treated purely as a batter in the first ODI, he could either make way for Suryakumar Yadav, who has experience in crunch situations down the order, or Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been among the runs in the recent past.

However, if India does plan on utilising Iyer as a sixth bowler in the upcoming game, he is the best bet for the team.

Indian bowlers need to fire

Indian bowlers didn’t quite have their best day in the first ODI. While they initially kept the Proteas from scoring at 58/2 in the 15-over mark, that did not sustain through the game, allowing them to power to 296/4 in 50 overs.

However, Jasprit Bumrah’s performance was applaudable with figures of 10-0-48-2. The bowlers must come back with a more formidable performance to restrict the Protea batters.

Buvama, van der Dussen look solid

South African batters Temba Buvama and Rassie van der Dussen scored a century each in the first ODI against India and have looked at ease. The Proteas will bank on these batters to get them to a challenging score once more.

India and South Africa head-to-head numbers

India and South Africa have met in 85 encounters of which South Africa has won 47 times. India has won 35 matches between the teams and in the other three matches, no results were produced.

India will play South Africa to stay alive in the three-match ODI series at Boland Park, Paarl at 2 PM IST on Friday, 21st January, 2022.