Faf du Plessis, the captain of South Africa cricket team, won the toss and elected to bat first at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban. Virat Kohli, the skipper of the Indian team, looked confident and was happy to bowl first. Faf du Plessis talked about the pitch behaviour and how will it help pace bowling. The Proteas skipper said, “We are looking to make the most of the helpful conditions by bowling in the night as the pitch speeds up. Also, Aiden Markram will be replacing AB de Villiers at No. 4.”

Indian captain Virat Kohli wanted to bat first as well. Kohli talked about playing two wrist spinners in the XI along with Kedar Jadhav gives them an extra option. If we are playing good, we can chase any score as well. Talking about coming from Test series to ODI series, Kohli said, “The ODI players are surely feeding off the positive energy in the dressing room.”

India team has included Kedar Jadhav in the playing XI and will be playing both the wrist spinners. For South Africa, Andile Phehlukwayo and Chris Morris are two all-rounders and Imran Tahir is back in the side. Read full  Match Preview here.

 India Team Playing XI:

1. Rohit Sharma, 2. Shikhar Dhawan, 3. Virat Kohli (c), 4. Ajinkya Rahane, 5. MS Dhoni (wk), 6. Kedar Jadhav, 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Kuldeep Yadav, 9. Yuzvendra Chahal, 10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11. Jasprit Bumrah

On the bench: Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, and Shardul Thakur.

South Africa Team Playing XI:

1. Aiden Markram, 2. Quinton de Kock (wk), 3. Hashim Amla, 4. Jean-Paul Duminy, 5. Faf du Plessis (c), 6. David Miller, 7. Chris Morris, 8. Imran Tahir, 9. Morne Morkel, 10. Andile Phehlukwayo, 11. Kagiso Rabada.

On the bench: Lungisani Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaya Zondo, and AB De Villiers

With the top spot up for the grabs in the ICC ODI Team rankings, for Team India, the Virat Kohli-led side will be looking to begin their ODI campaign on a winning note. With the addition of both youth players and experienced MS Dhoni, Indian team would be looking to topple South Africa as the best ODI team in the world.

After the Test Series being done with, the sides will look to show their supremacy in the shorter-format of the game now. The six-match One Day International Series is a perfect opportunity for players to cement their place in the side. It serves a huge chance to stake their claim for their respective squads for ICC World Cup 2019.

Who do you think has the upper hand after the toss? Do let us know in the comments section below. Stay tuned for many such updates about India vs South Africa ODI Series.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2018 04:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).