India look to seal series against South Africa

more images

more images

GWALIOR - After winning a cliffhanger in Jaipur, India will be looking to seal the three-match series when they face South Africa in the second One-Day International at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium here Wednesday.

The win in Jaipur can be called as a lucky escape for India as poor bowling allowed South Africa to come tantalisingly close before losing the match by a mere one run.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been critical of his team’s mediocre bowling performance and will have to beef up his attacks sans pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and experienced spinner Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni will have to make a choice between Sudip Tyagi and the erratic Sreesanth, who was costly in Jaipur. However, it looks like Tyagi will be playing his fourth ODI.

Dhoni will not like to tinker with his batting order as Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli all got good starts but failed to convert these into big totals. But all eyes will be on Sachin Tendulkar, who was run out cheaply for four in the first ODI.

South Africa will take some heart out of their loss in Jaipur and would be pumped up to atone for the defeat. The courageous fight put up by Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn with the bat that took the visitors to within a run of victory will surely inspire others. And it seems that stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis won’t make much changes in his side.

But the onus will be on openers Loots Bosman and Herschelle Gibbs to give South Africa a good start. Like Dhoni, Kallis will also have to make sure that his bowlers don’t give away loose runs. In Jaipur, the South African bowlers conceded 13 wides, they can’t afford a repeat here.