Rohit Sharma : For all his majesty in the white-ball format of the game, Rohit has failed to live up to the lofty expectations, scoring a minuscule 35 runs in the first three ODIs. But, with his malleable wrists and the propensity to find gaps with effortless ease, Rohit knows a thing or two about making a roaring comeback and the Wanderers faithful would, obviously, not want that.
Shikhar Dhawan : He is nicknamed Gabbar, after the iconic villain in the Hindi movie Sholay. Gabbar is scary and his act is as bad it as it gets, but, over the years, he has become a loved character among people, and at the same time, he creates a sense of joy, like his iconic dialogue “Kitney Aadmi The”. Similarly, the Indian opener has been a loved character and not only when he gets going. But when he gets going, he is the ultimate superstar and has the ability to blow away any world-class bowler’s reputations to smithereens. Â
Virat Kohli : Indian cricket’s ultimate pin-up star. The man is in a league of his own and if there was a shed of doubt about it, then he put everything to bed through his unbeaten 160-run innings in Cape Town. That was not an archetypical “Kohli” innings though and there was apparent scratchiness. Despite having cramps, the Indian skipper "ran his way" to glory and single-handedly took India past the 300-run mark.
Ajinkya Rahane : With Rohit and Dhawan failing to take India to a comfortable position in the first ODI, India’s "latest" No.4 rose to the occasion and anchored the run-chase with Kohli. His strike rotation was sublime and in that innings, he showed all the facets of what an ideal No.4 batsman should have. While he didn’t get a chance to bat in the second match, he failed to get going in the third ODI. Today, he will be eager to prove his credentials, once again.
Hardik Pandya : Highly inconsistent, to say the least. While Pandya possesses the rare ability to strike clean, he must have slapped himself in anger after watching the videos of his dismissals in the recent past. On the field, while he has produced some jaw-dropping moments, he has been the criminal of missing some sitters. With the ball in his hand, he has failed to make any impact and Kohli should give him some warnings now.
MS Dhoni : While Dhoni has always been a safe pair of hands behind the stumps and a guiding light for the spinners, he is taking a lot of balls in the middle-overs to get going and more often than not, he gets out with a less than 100 strike rate. A firing Dhoni is always a joy to watch and he can send the entire nation into a tizzy if he makes Wanderers a stage for an epic of his own.
Kedar Jadhav : Although he didn’t get a chance to bat in the first two matches, he couldn’t do much in the third ODI though and was dismissed for a single. The sword of Damocles is on his head to perform, especially because Axar Patel is waiting for an opportunity. However, Jadhav gives a useful 4-5 overs with the mixture of his side-arm and top-arm action and Kohli needs him to perform the role of the sixth bowler if needed. Â
Bhuvneshwar Kumar : The vital cog in the Indian team. When he doesn’t perform with the ball, he knows how to bat to bail the team out of the soup or lead them to a good score. While he hasn’t been in his lethal best in the ongoing series with the ball, in the last match at Newlands, his 67-run unbeaten partnership with Kohli helped India go past the 300-run mark.
Kuldeep Yadav : The wrist-spinner, alongside his partner Yuzvendra Chahal, has spun a web around the South African batting line-up and is the main force in India taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. Nothing much to write about him as his bowling does all the talking.
Yuzvendra Chahal : If the Bangalore T20 in February 2017 reinforced his credentials as India’s next big thing, he has let his variations do all the talking on South African soil in February 2018. On the land of wrong’ un, his conventional leg-spinners made sure that the South African team need to work a lot on their prowess to be considered as one of the favourites for the upcoming World Cup. Â
Jasprit Bumrah : With four wickets from three matches, he has been the third best bowler in the squad and that only reflects spinners’ dominance in the series. However, Bumrah should be credited for the way he managed to build pressure on the openers - especially Hashim Amla – and with that lies the success of Indian bowlers.Â
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