South Africa will take on India in the first ODI of the three-match ODI series at New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, December 17. Two sides will shift their entire towards three ODIs after the conclusion of three-match T20I series, which ended in a draw with a Proteas and Men in Blue winning a match following the washout of 1st T20I in Durban.
The good news for cricket fans that the rain is unlikely to play the spoilsport in the ODI series opener as the weather will be humid in the morning. The temperature in the morning 10:00 AM in South Africa will be at 26 degree Celsius with 40% probability of rain.
However, the bad news is that there will be 95% cloud cover in the morning of the match.
In the evening, the temperature in Johannesburg will drop to 17 degree Celsius with a 7% chance of rain. There is low probability of thunderstorm in the evening as it is just 2%. The cloud cover in the evening through to night is 48%.
KL Rahul to lead India in ODIs
KL Rahul will return to action to lead the Men in Blue in the three-match ODI series against South Africa.
The upcoming ODI series will also see the return of players like Sanju Samson, Sai Sudharsan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Rajat Patidar. Players who featured in the T20I series including Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Tilak Varma are part of India squad for three ODIs.
Meanwhile, Deepak Chahar has been replaced with Akash Deep as the former withdrew from the ODI series due to emergency.
Mohammed Siraj, who was part of three T20Is against Proteas, have been rested for the ODI series and will return for two Tests.
What happened when India last played ODI series against South Africa?
The last time South Africa and India played the ODI series was in January 2022, where the hosts whitewashed the Men in Blue 3-0.
It was a disappointing series for India preceded by 1-2 Test series defeat to Proteas. In the final ODI, the Men in Blue came close to the finishing line but fell just four runs of achieving the target of 287 as they were bundle out for 283 despite half-centuries Virat Kohli (65), Shikhar Dhawan (61), and Deepak Chahar (54).
Shikhar Dhawan was the highest run-getter for India in three ODIs, with 169 runs.
