Team India will be eyeing to make a strong comeback against South Africa in a three-match ODI series. The action gets underway with the opening match on Wednesday (January 19) at Boland Park in Paarl. Having lost the Test series 1-2 last week, the visitors would be gutted and must leave no stones unturned to turn the table in the ODI series.

It must be noted that the 1st ODI will also be the maiden assignment for KL Rahul as India’s white-ball skipper. While Jasprit Bumrah has been named Rahul’s deputy, former skipper Virat Kohli will be featuring in the game only as a player after a gap of more than 7 years. With Rohit Sharma being unavailable due to a hamstring injury, there’s a certain void in the top order. Also, it would be interesting to see how the lower-middle order and bowling attack would look like.

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Opining on the same regard, former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer has decided to name  his playing XI for the opening game. On expected lines, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli occupied the first three slots in Rohit’s absence. He picked Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order while Rishabh is featuring as the wicketkeeper.

My Indian team for first ODI:

1. KL (C)
2. Shikhar
3. Virat
4. S Iyer
5. Pant (WK)
6. Surya
7. Shardul
8. Ashwin
9. Bhuvi / Siraj
10. Chahal
11. Bumrah

What's yours? #SAvIND

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 18, 2022

Now, most of the Indian batters pretty much pick themselves up and Wasim Jaffer didn’t do much tinkering either. The tricky part was picking the next five. Interestingly, Jaffer slotted Shardul Thakur at number seven, for playing as an all-rounder. It must be noted the squad has Venkatesh Iyer in the ranks, who enjoyed a sensational run in the domestic season last year.

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However, Wasim Jaffer found Shardul better for the job. Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal are the spinners in Jaffer’s line-up. While deputy skipper, Jasprit Bumrah will be spearheading the bowling attack, Jaffer has a toss-up between pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Siraj for the remaining slot. Meanwhile, India’s last ODI assignment in South Africa saw them recording a 5-1 triumph in 2018. Hence, the Men in Blue would fight to replicate their heroics.