India vs South Africa 1st ODI Match Prediction

The start of the One Day International Freedom Series between South Africa and India is upon us. The first in a three-match series starts on the 19th of January 2022. Following straight after their successful 2-1 Test series win, South Africa will be feeling confident, compared with India who will be looking for a fresh start. Indian fans can catch all the action from 1400 IST from Boland Park, Paarl. Keep reading to find out our cricket match prediction of who will win the first ODI in India’s tour of South Africa.

South Africa Team Preview

Skipper Temba Bavuma is surely feeling quite confident ahead of the first match of this ODI series as defending champions of the Freedom Series and with the Test series win under their belt. However, swerving into this other format of cricket so quickly will need a solid game plan and strategy.

Batters Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aiden Markram will feel the responsibility to give a strong performance to mirror their on-form bowlers. Medium-Fast bowlers Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius offer strength within the batting unit.

If they manage to maintain a strong batting unit, all the right pieces are in place to give India a good run for their money.

India Team Preview

Despite their loss in the Test series, India are looking incredibly on-form and their players are oozing quality. They will be keen to put the Test series behind them and focus on this different cricket format.

The squad now under new leadership by KL Rahul. Of course, all the eyes will be on Virat Kohli who stepped down as skipper after the Test series and can now play without any burden and continue to improve his record for most runs (964).

Success for Shikhar Dhawan will bring him closer to the ICC World Cup 2023 squad, so we are expecting to see a strong performance.

If you are looking for a market for online cricket betting, Ravichandran Ashwin could be a good candidate to keep your eye on for most wickets as he holds the current record (56).

Toss Prediction

We think that the skipper who wins the toss will decide to bat first. Previous matches at this venue have seen teams batting first managing to get challenging scores, so we think anything around 300 could be enough to clinch a victory here.

Pitch Conditions

Boland Park, Paarl, is traditionally helpful for the batsmen. The pace bowlers should also be able to get a decent amount of bounce out of the pitch and should be successful. Coupled with a good weather forecast for the series, we should see some high scores coming from this pitch.

Our Match Prediction

This will be an interesting match as both teams have their strengths. While India have some excellent on-form players, South Africa will be riding the momentum from their Test series win. If South Africa manage to keep the pressure up with their batting order, as well as India without the likes of Rohit Sharma, they could manage to take the first victory.

Many top cricket betting sites are backing South Africa to get higher first innings score. However, while it is possible for South Africa to capitalise on India’s weaknesses, India are on-form for this format of the game, and who we believe will take the first victory in the Freedom series.