India vs South Africa LIVE Score 2nd ODI at Raipur: Fans hope for another Kohli classic as IND eye series win

India vs South Africa LIVE Score 2nd ODI: Team India would aim to clinch the three-match series against South Africa when they face the Proteas in the second ODI at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday (3 December). India won the first ODI at Ranchi by 17 runs to take a 1-0 lead.

An ODI series win with a game to spare would help Team India pacify some of the fans who have been enraged since the 2-0 series defeat and also provide KL Rahul and Co with the much-needed momentum ahead of the five-match T20I series.

Cricket returns to Raipur as India eye ODI series win

Meanwhile, ODI cricket is returning to Raipur after a gap of almost three years. In the only ODI at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur in January 2023, India defeated New Zealand by eight wickets.

Raipur has a black soil pitch, which generally holds itself much better, offers low bounce and good conditions for batting. Like Ranchi, we may expect a good batting surface, but may not have a very high-scoring game. Weather-wise wise things are very clear in Raipur and rain should not be a problem.

This is great news for local fans who are expected to turn up in big numbers to watch Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. While Rohit slammed a fifty in Ranchi, Kohli made the day for the fans with a classic knock of 135.

The cricket fans at the Raipur cricket stadium would hope for another great outing by the Indian batting greats, who are currently engaged in a battle with the BCCI over their place in the ODI side. Reportedly, selector Pragyan Ojha is travelling with the team to get clarity from Rohit and Kohli on how they plan to prepare for the 2027 ODI World Cup.

But that is a topic for another day. On Wednesday, India would want to beat South Africa and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Meanwhile, South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, is expected to be back in the second ODI.

IND vs SA ODI squads

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (wk/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Dhruv Jurel, Tilak Varma

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rubin Hermann