What The 29th ODI of the 2011 ICC World Cup will be played between India and South Africa. The match is a Day/Night affair.

When

March 12, 2011. The game begins at 2:30 pm, IST.

Where

Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur. Three games have been played at this venue in the 2011 ICC World Cup so far. England and Netherlands aggregated nearly 600 runs in their World Cup encounter. Then Australia batted at just above six-an-over to chase down New Zealand’s total of 206 in 34 overs. Finally, Zimbabwe thrashed Canada by 175 runs on February 28 by posting a massive total of 298 runs. Another run fest looks likely when the two Group B giants meet.

The Teams

India’s bowling combination came under much criticism in their previous game against Netherlands with Ashish Nehra replacing the in-form Munaf Patel. Yet with India having failed to pull off convincing run chases against the minnows – Ireland and Netherlands – in their two previous games, it is the batting now that has come under pressure. Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan are averaging just 32.00 and 21.00 respectively after four innings at the World Cup. Both batsmen will have to get going if India are to do well in the later stages of the tournament.

Imran Tahir, South Africa’s leading wicket-taker (11 wickets), is likely to be unavailable for the game against India. This after Tahir fractured his left thumb in the previous game against England. However, since India had struggled against the South African pace trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe on their recent tour, expect Tsotsobe to fill in for Tahir. But South Africa’s bigger worry would be the manner in which their batting collapsed while chasing a paltry 171 against England. It was an all too familiar sequence of the Proteas courting defeat when victory was well within reach.

Players to watch out for

Sachin Tendulkar may not have fired against the minnows but certainly came good against the pedigreed England side with an innings of 120. Tendulkar struggled to get going against South Africa in the first two ODIs on the recent tour and with a hamstring injury forcing him to return home thereafter, he will be eager to settle scores.

AB de Villiers is among the leading run-getters of the 2011 ICC World Cup with 266 runs from three innings. The swashbuckling middle-order batsman has also helped himself to two centuries and is averaging a mammoth 133.00 runs per innings. His familiarity with Indian conditions, considering his IPL experience, might just propel him to a big score.

The squads

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Piyush Chawla, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, S Sreesanth and R Ashwin

South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Morne van Wyk (wk), Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, Johan Botha, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell