IND vs SA 3rd ODI: Rajat Patidar Makes Debut as South Africa Elect to Bowl First Against India

South Africa skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the series-deciding third ODI match at Boland Park, Paarl. After winning the second ODI while chasing, the Proteas stuck to the same decision after winning the toss.

For India, Rajat Patidar made his international debut after a long wait. The Royal Challengers Bangalore batter has performed well in domestic cricket in recent years and travelled with the Indian team for a couple of series but didn’t get the opportunity to play.

The visitors made a couple of changes in their XI as Kuldeep Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad missed out and Washington Sundar-Rajat Patidar replaced them.

Rahul informed at the toss that Gaikwad injured his figure and missed the clash.

The South Africa skipper said that the most of guys will be looking to give a final push this year to end it on a high with a win before they go for a break.

“We’ll bowl first. Looks like a good wicket, won’t change too much. We want to keep challenging ourselves, hopefully we can take wickets regularly and restrict them to a low total. One last push for most of the guys before a nice break, we’ll try our best. Expect more of the same we did in the second ODI. The dimensions here are certainly different, so running hard between wickets will be key. No changes,” Markram said at the toss.

Meanwhile, Rahul didn’t mind batting first and called it a better surface to bat on than the last two they played on.

“Not really bothered by being asked to bat first. The wicket will be even for both innings and the lights come on pretty late here. We got ourselves to a good position in the previous game but ended up losing 5 wickets for 40 odd runs. Once we get a good start, we have to make it count. Today is another opportunity for the boys to prove themselves. This looks like a much better wicket than the previous two, hopefully we can get plenty of runs on the board. Two changes – Rajat Patidar makes his ODI debut, Rutu misses out after doing some damage to his finger. Also, Kuldeep gets a rest and Yuzi Chahal comes in,” Rahul said.

India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul(w/c), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar

South Africa (Playing XI): Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lizaad Williams, Beuran Hendricks