ODI preview / Andrew Hughes / 20 February 2010 /

India held onto their number one Test ranking, but can they hold off the South Africans in the one day game? Andrew Hughes previews Sunday's first One Day International in Jaipur

Team News

India are much depleted for this contest, with Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan all missing. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar will resume their successful opening partnership and India may bolster their batting order by employing Dinesh Karthik or rely on a string of all-rounders such as Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar and Yusuf Pathan.

Graeme Smith's broken finger has ruled him out of the series, so Hashim Amla will stay with the squad, although it is far from certain that he will play, given that the Proteas have a strong batting contingent, with Loots Bosman, Alviro Petersen and Herschelle Gibbs jostling for the opening positions. Mark Boucher is expected to recover from a back problem.

Conditions

Though the pitch at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium is likely to be a batsman-friendly one, the key factor at this time of year is the dew that makes fielding under lights a tricky proposition. The last five day night games at the venue have been won by the team batting second.

Match Odds

If the Test series was all about the number one ranking, this is the battle for the number two spot. India currently hold it and are always a formidable team on their own patch. But they are missing some key experienced players, particularly Zaheer and Harbhajan. South Africa look strong in every department and will be keen to climb back up the rankings. The days when they used to struggle on the subcontinent are long gone and even without their captain, South Africa are worth backing at [2.16]

Top Batsman

Sehwag is short in the top Indian batsman market, with good reason, but surprisingly averages only 19.33 on this ground. Tendulkar has a better record here, but at bigger odds, it is worth siding with captain M S Dhoni. He floats in the batting order and could go in as high as four so will have plenty of overs to face and back in 2005, he scored a blistering 183 not out on this very ground. He can be backed at [6.2]

The top South African batsman market is rendered more complicated by the fact that we can't be sure what their line-up will look like. Given that A B De Villiers and J P Duminy appear unable to buy a run at the moment and that Gibbs has not yet played any cricket on this tour, the sensible thing is to rely on stand in captain Kallis at [4.8]. You always get a good run for your money with Jacques and he averages an impressive 76.75 in fifty over cricket in India.

Featured Market

Of all the young Indian batsmen, Virat Kohli has impressed me most. A no-nonsense, aggressive striker of the ball, he has to be backed in the 'Kohli v A B De Villiers' market at [1.96]. He is likely to come in higher up the order than De Villiers and, more importantly, the South African is low on form and confidence.

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