India vs South Africa | Monday 5 October | Barabati Stadium, Cuttack | 15:30
The Proteas got their record-breaking 70-day tour of India off to a positive start, with a seven-wicket victory at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium. Having been set a challenging target of 200 to win, the South African top order managed to chase down the Indian total with two balls to spare.
The teams now head to the ancient city of Cuttack for the second of three T20 internationals.
To Win MatchIndia 8/10
South Africa 1/1
South Africa
While Russel Domingo would have been disappointed with the performance of his young bowling attack, he will be elated with the manner in which his top order batsmen stepped up to the mark in Dharamsala. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy stole the show with their half centuries. Duminy, in particular, was devastating with the willow, his 68* run innings included seven maximums.
Domingo will be hoping his top order can repeat the trick on what will be a much slower deck in Barabati. He will also need more from his inexperienced bowling attack if his side are to take an unassailable lead in the T20 series. While openers Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada returned decent figures, the likes of Morris, de Lange and Tahir all ended the game with economy rates in excess of 11 runs.
I suspect that Domingo may want to alter his bowling attack for the second T20. David Wiese could come in for either Kyle Morris or Marchant de Lange while there’s also the option to go with two frontline spinners, by bringing Eddie Leie in for one of the seamers.
India
MS Dhoni’s 50th game as T20 skipper looked to be going according to plan as the teams changed innings. His side had posted a mammoth total of 199 (mainly due to Rohit Sharma’s 106 runs off 66 balls). It was to all end in tears however, with the South Africans chasing down the challenging total with two balls and seven wickets to spare.
India may be regretting going with just the three seamers in Dharamsala. The pitch offered a lot more bounce than most decks on the sub-continent, which made it easier for the South Africans to score runs off the Indian spinners. However, with the deck set to be a lot slower in Cuttack, the Indian coaching staff are likely to give the same bowling attack another bash.
Venue
After two false starts, the 45 000 seater Barabati Cricket Stadium will host its first international T20 on Monday. The ground had been scheduled to play host to an encounter between the Indians and the Australians in 2013, but a heavy downpour saw the game called off. A year later the West Indies were meant to come to town but a contractual dispute between the players and the West Indian Cricket Board saw the tour called off.
The local weather service is predicting early morning showers but by the time play commences on Monday evening, they should have passed.
Verdict: India 8/10
With the teams playing on a much slower deck this time around, my money is on the Indian spinners leading the hosts to victory.
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