South Africa vs India Prediction

IND Team News

With a mandatory window between the IPL Final and their first ODI at the Cricket World Cup, India have had to wait longest to get their campaign underway. They did, however, play two warm-up matches and KL Rahul’s century in the second one should see him bat at four against South Africa. The biggest selection question appears to be which of their three spinners – Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja – play. Jadeja’s superior batting should give him the edge, meaning Yadav and Chahal competing for the final spot. There seems to be another selection dilemma for the men in blue - should they pick a fit-again Kedar Jadhav or go for Vijay Shankar who failed to impress in both the warm-up matches. The former, however, is more likely to be picked. Mohammed Shami has shown impressive form with the ball of late and he could be picked ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as India's second frontline seamer.

IND Key Players

India go into the World Cup 2019 with the top two batsmen in the ODI world rankings and the top bowler.

Virat Kohli tops the former chart and goes into the tournament with an ODI average just shy of 60, having hit 49 half-centuries and a stunning 41 centuries in the format in his glittering career.

Team-mate Rohit Sharma is next on the list and the big-hitting opener will want to get back to top form alongside fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan.

In their final warm-up game, meanwhile, KL Rahul – fresh from being one of the top batsmen at the IPL – hit 108 against Bangladesh. MS Dhoni scored 113, meanwhile – continuing the excellent form he has shown for India in recent months.

Bowling-wise, Jasprit Bumrah tops the ICC charts. This match will be his 50th ODI, having taken 85 wickets in his previous 49, with an economy rate of 4.51 runs per over. Bumrah took 19 wickets at the IPL to help Mumbai Indians to victory and took three in India’s two warm-up matches for this World Cup too.

IND Team Form

India suffered a small blip after some excellent ODI form earlier in the year, which had seen them back up their Asia Cup triumph with wins against West Indies, Australia and New Zealand.

After racing into a 2-0 lead in their home series with Australia, India lost three in a row and then suffered a bad defeat in their first World Cup warm-up game – bowled out for 179 on their way to a six-wicket defeat to New Zealand.They bounced back in their second warm-up, however, as both MS Dhoni and KL Rahul hit centuries in a total of 359/7 against Bangladesh, before both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets each in a 95-run win.