India 217 in 41 overs: Shami gives a catch to Styen. India loses match by 141 runs.
India 217/9 in 40.3 overs: Dhoni is bowled for 65. India hurtles towards big defeat.
India 201/8 in 37.4 overs: Dhoni is fighting the lone battle, batting on 55 not out with six 4s and one 6.
India 190/8 in 36.2 overs: Bhuvi falls to four ball duck as he holes out to Kallis off Styen's bowling.
India 183/7 in 34.4 overs: Ashwin edges it behind to keeper de Kock off McLaren's bowling for 19.
India 158/6 in 29.5 overs: Kallis gets an incoming delivery to break the defence of Jadeja and crashes onto his stumps. Jadeja made 29.
India 118/5 in 25 overs: Dhoni is fighting it alone, with 23 not out. Ravindra Jadeja gives him company at 6 not out.
India 108/5 in 22.3 overs: Raina fails to make the ground as a good throw from the deep from Steyn sees the batsman short of crease. Raina makes 14.
India 93/4 in 20 overs: Dhoni and Raina look to rebuild innings. Dhoni batting on 18.
India 65/4 in 15.3 overs: Rohit Sharma is run out for 18 as Raina and he attempts a quick single. Rohit Sharma played 44 balls for his 18.
India 60/3 in 15 overs: Yuvi shows no front foot movement and tries to flick the ball, misses it completely and is out bowled for second ball duck to McLaren.
India 60/2 in 14.4 overs: Ryan McLaren gets a ball swing away from Kohli and its takes the edge of the batsman's bat to go to first slip Kallis, who takes the catch comfortably. Kohli made 31.
India 52/1 in 13 overs: Although Kohli has found some timing going on, Rohit takes his time to settle down and pass over the difficult phase. Kohli going strong on 26.
India 36/1 in 10 overs: Although SA pacers are making the ball do the talk, Indian batsmen Kohli and Sharma are trying their best to stay at the wicket and score off runs. Kohli batting on 19 not off 21 balls, Sharma 4 not out on 26 balls.
India 20/1 in 8 overs: Kohli gloves a rising delivery from Morne Morkel to wicketkeeper De Kock who drops an easy catch.
India 14/1 in 5.1 overs: Dhawan attempts to pull a short ball from Morne Morkel, but gets a leading edge on top of his bat. De Kock completes a good running catch to fine leg. Dhawan falls for 12.
India 12/0 in 5 overs: South African pacers Dale Styen and Tsotsobe make the fly all over the pitch, beat Indian openers Dhawan and Rohit on numerous occassions. Dhawan struck three fours whenever the ball is pitched up. Rohit Sharma is struggling against the swinging ball. Dhawan batting on 12 not out.
After 50 overs: South Africa 358/4: AB De Villiers and De Kock combine to put SA on top. SA ends up with 358/4 in 50 overs. Duminy remains not out on 59.
After 49.2 overs: South Africa 352/4: De Villiers looks to hit over the fine leg, but finds the stumps rattled, is out for 77. Shami is the bowler.
After 49 overs: South Africa 345/3: De Villiers and Duminy smashes Mohit Sharma all over the park. Sharma goes for 82 runs in 10 over. De Villiers batting on 71.
After 48 overs: South Africa 322/3: Duminy comes to the party, makes 50 off just 25 balls with 5 sixes and 1 four.
After 47 overs: South Africa 310/3: AB de Villiers is batting on 53, off 39 balls with four 4s and 2 sixes. Duminy batting on 40 with 1 fours and 4 sixes.
After 46 overs: South Africa 291/3: AB de Villiers and Duminy are batting at the crease as they look to pulverise Indian bowling to get a good total on board.
After 41.5 overs: South Africa 247/3: An unexpected change of bowling did the trick for India. Virat Kohli got one from de Kock to drive straight to him. De Kock falls for a well-made 135 of 121 balls with 18 fours and three 6s.
After 41 overs: South Africa 240/2: De Kock batting on 129, de Villiers on 29. Both the batsmen goes for big hit in order to put up a big total on the scoreboard. De Kock going great guns at 129 not out.
After 37 overs: South Africa 201/2: De Kock is batting brilliantly on 109, while de Villiers looks to accelerate things up.
After 35 overs: South Africa 188/2: De Kock is playing well, reaching his 100 off 105 balls with the help of 15 fours and one six. AB de Villiers gives him company.
After 32.5 overs: South Africa 172/2: Kallis attempts to play over the infield to a short pitched delivery from Shami, but gets a thick edge, Jadeja completes the catch at cover. Kallis falls for 10.
After 29.3 overs: South Africa 152/1: Amla tries to glide a ball from Shami down to third man, but gets an inside edge onto this stumps, falls for 65.
After 29 overs: South Africa 150/0 (Amla 64, de Kock 82): SA opening batsmen make merry, toiling with the Indian bowling attack, batting on their 50s, looking good for a big score.
After 24.5 overs: South Africa 119/0 (Amla 50, de Kock 65): Amla reaches his 5th ODI 50 against India, while this was his 23rd ODI 50 overall. He's giving perfect support to de Kock on the other end. The talented de Kock is batting on 65 not out.
After 21.4 overs: South Africa 103/0 (Amla 42, de Kock 57): Amla and de Kock have put up 100-run partnership in no time. They look to have got control over Indian bowling. De Kock going strong on 57.
After 18.1 overs: South Africa 91/0 (Amla 37, de Kock 50): The new South African batsman de Kock makes an useful contribution by putting up a quick 50 off 56 balls with three fours and one six. Amla gives company with an unbeaten 37 not out.
After 15 overs: South Africa 78/0 (Amla 31, de Kock 43): De Kock is going great guns smashing some useful boundaries off the Indian pacers. Amla provides good support at the other end with a briliant 31 not out.
Shami has been economical, while Bhuvi has went for runs. Indian captain MS Dhoni has thrown the ball to Ashwin to stem the flow of runs and get a breakthrough.
After 10 overs: South Africa 53/0 (Amla 24, de Kock 27): Indian bowlers did get some swing, but South African batsmen too good for it.
Mohit Sharma got couple of edges of Amla and de Kock's bat, but the ball falls short of fielders.
Amla unleashes some brilliant strokes on the square region.
After 5 overs: South Africa 24 for 0 (Hashim Amla 8*, de Kock 16*)
It's a good over for South Africa as he de Kock hits Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two boundaries in his very first over.
South Africa starts with Hashim Amla and de Kock.
South Africa are in pink dress to promote breast cancer awareness
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the toss and has elected to bowl in the first cricket one-dayer against South Africa.
India is playing the same side which beat West Indies in the final of a home series last month.
For South Africa, Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis are back in the side.
India vs South Africa, First ODI: Battles within a battle
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
South Africa: AB de Villiers (c), Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, DA Miller, Ryan McLaren, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, L Tsotsobe, Morne Morkel.
The preview
Johannesburg: Gaining in confidence with every series, India's in-form young batsmen are set to be put through their sternest test this season when the team takes on the mighty South Africa in a three-match ODI series starting here tomorrow.
It is an ODI contest with context but that has got nothing to do with the political intrigue that led to this tour being shortened. Nor is it just another three-match series between the number one and number five ranked sides. This affair has a certain context, all of it pertaining to what happens within the boundary ropes.
For Team India, it will be an exercise to reaffirm faith in their young batsmen. This is the same bunch that has been busy lighting up cricket grounds with some breathtaking stroke-play. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, each have scored more than thousand runs in ODIs played this calendar year, each of them averaging over fifty.
There can be two ways to look at this statistic. First, they have scored runs in India, England, West Indies and Zimbabwe, in different conditions. Their confidence is sky-high at the moment and in their respective purple patches, all they can think of is playing the next match and batting on.
Their great run has meant that the Indian batting has started to look top-heavy, and this is the second point, albeit a bit worrisome. In 31 matches this year, Suresh Raina averages only 36. In 21 matches, Yuvraj Singh has scored at only 21.23.
In the last nine matches (seven completed innings each) against Australia and West Indies, they have fared worse -- Raina has scored at 22.42 and Yuvraj at 19.66, facing the same bowling as Dhawan, Sharma and Kohli, on the same pitches.
Along with the inform top-order and below Yuvraj and Raina, is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who too has maintained his touch this year. In 23 matches, he averages 66.90. Of course, the small print is that he has been not out eight times. But his conversion rate after getting a start has been good, with four fifties and a hundred.
It highlights that hole of poor form in the middle of the batting order, which South Africa will look to exploit. Particularly, when Team India is likely to play only six front-line batsmen. This will be a test unlike any other in the 11 months gone by, on pitches which will afford more bounce and are likely to cater to the hosts' traditional strength -- pace.
The hosts will be eager to unleash Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis at the first available opportunity. Both Steyn and Kallis have been included in the squad for this three-match series, after sitting out the third (and last) ODI against Pakistan.
South Africa lost that three-match rubber, a first loss against Pakistan at home. Similarly, India too have never won a bilateral ODI series in South Africa and the Men in Blue will want to take heart from their archrivals' success.
For the Proteas, going up against the top-ranked ODI side, this is a chance to ascertain their own plans in this format after some patchy display in the past year. In fact, South Africa have only beaten Pakistan in two bilateral series (out of three against this opposition) in 2013, failing to impress in the Champions Trophy and losing to New Zealand and Sri Lanka elsewhere.
After Gary Kirsten stepped down as coach, and AB de Villiers' none too impressive captaincy run so far, the team is still trying to find its feet under current coach Russell Domingo. His biggest aim will be to find a cure for this team's pain-point -- failure to handle pressure and close out games. It is a fact that they have just one win in their last eight games while chasing.
While Indian batsmen versus South African bowlers will prove to be the key contest, the Indian bowlers too have a chance to get onto the stage. For them, it is a chance to regain confidence lost in the last couple months.
Playing on wickets which afforded no life and hampered by the new fielding rules that were heavily stacked against them, these bowlers took a beating like never before. Now, with conditions affording a better balance between bat and ball, they can hope to tide over their shortcomings and put on a better display.
As such, picking the right combination will be vital for both sides. For South Africa, Kallis' presence has always been a boon. Yet, with his advanced years now, they are beginning to question his utility to the side, with the 2015 World Cup starting to appear in the distant horizon. This series could be an exercise in that direction. India too will be on a similar quest.
Through the year, irrespective of the format, Dhoni has professed playing five full-time bowlers. It was a necessity on feather-beds at home. It remains to be seen whether it will prove to be a luxury in relatively more bowler-friendly conditions, forcing him to use a sixth batsman going forward.
Also, how long before the team management starts wondering about the form of Raina and Yuvraj, and the possibility of blooding in Ambati Rayudu or Ajinkya Rahane. That's the import of this short series; a few questions to be asked and the answers need to start coming in. However, there is a rider attached. Every evening, for the past three weeks or so, rain regularly visits Johannesburg.
A thunder-shower could threaten tomorrow's game, and further delay those answers.
Teams: India: MS Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Match starts 1700hrs IST.
