What

The first of the five match One-Day Internationals between India and South Africa. The match is a Day/Night affair.

When

January 12, 2011. The game begins at 6 pm, IST.

Where

Kingsmead, Durban. Although the wicket is considered to be one of the fastest and bounciest tracks in the world, India have shown that they are up for the challenge having beaten South Africa at this very venue in the Test series.

The Teams

It appears an evenly matched contest. The South African bowling is bolstered by the return of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, both of whom were not available for the T20 game played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. The Indian batting on the other hand will see Sachin Tendulkar return to the opener’s position after a long hiatus in this format of the game.

India has a problem of plenty in its bowling department. Should they continue to give Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth a rest after the Test series and continue with R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra, all of who played in the T20 game the other day. Perhaps, it would be prudent to mix and match.

The South African batting, in contrast, will be under tremendous pressure to put in a much better showing than in the defeat in the T20 game. The exciting thing for the hosts, though, will be which of the two legspinners in their squad – Imran Tahir or Faf du Plessis - gets to make his ODI debut ahead of the other?

The Toss and the weather:

The Toss will be crucial to both sides, as historically, bowling under lights has always worked to the advantage of the fielding side. There is a lot more seam and swing movement on offer and MS Dhoni would hope that his luck turns for the better at toss time in all these Day/Night ODI matches.

The Durban Test was affected by rain and overcast conditions. The outlook for this ODI match appears to be better, but conditions will still be partly cloudy and there is a hint of rain sometime during the day.

Venue quick stats:

South Africa: Played – 27, Won – 14, Lost – 8, Tied – 1, NR - 4

India: Played – 7, Won – 2, Lost – 4, Tied – 0, NR - 1

Highest Total: Pakistan 351/4 in 50 overs v South Africa – February 7, 2007

Lowest Total: India 91 in 29.1 overs v South Africa – November 22, 2006

Best Individual score:Brian Lara (West Indies) 128 v Pakistan– February 19, 1993

Best bowling figures in an innings:Ashish Nehra (India) 10-2-23-6 v England – February 26, 2003

The Teams (probable playing XIs):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh/R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra

South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers (wk), Colin Ingram, David Miller, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir/Faf du Plessis.