The Indian cricket team comprehensively defeated the South Africans in the 5th ODI of the six-match series in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday (February 13) and registered there maiden series win on South African shores. Ahead of the 6th ODI at the Supersport Park in Centurion, we are making attempt to mark out Indias predicted playing XI line-up.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his men have reached Centurion to play the final 6th ODI of the series, which is nothing more than a dead rubber now. Having already sealed the series 4-1, the Indian team management might be looking test their proclaimed bench strength by making certain changes in the playing XI of the fifth ODI and that will help them to make some tests for the mission ICC World Cup 2019 which is just 15 months away from now.

Also read: Stats preview - SA vs Ind (6th ODI)

Earlier, during the post-match presentation of the 5th ODI, Kohli acknowledged the fact that the men in blue will try there level best an emphatic 5-1 result but is likely to tweak his playing XI as well. The team management has always been keeping a close eye on the workloads of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been playing since the Tests.

It is likely that one, if not both, will be rested. India retracted their decision to view Ajinkya Rahane as a backup opener and slotted him the no.4 position. He has an aggregate of 106 from five games, with 79 off those coming in the first ODI doesn’t bode well for the team. However, to find a settled No.4 batsman with just over a year to go, India will have to resist the urge from pottering personnel after every other game.  

Also read: Preview - SA vs Ind (6th ODI)

Here, we chalk out the predicted XI lineup of India for the 6th ODI on Friday (February 16).

India Predicted XI for 6th ODI against South Africa:

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer/Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah/Shardul Thakur.