It took 21 attempts, three different captains, a never-before-seen battle against probability, and a left-handed flick for India to break the unwanted streak as Lady Luck finally graced them. KL Rahul won the team's first toss in an ODI in more than two years. The last time an Indian captain won a toss in an ODI was in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Breaking away from the commonly followed right-hand flick, KL Rahul took the help of his left hand to break the jinx. He opted to bowl against South Africa in the series-decider in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
The Indian XI sees Tilak Varma come in for Washington Sundar, and the all-rounder missed out. Meanwhile, Ryan Rickelton and Ottneil Baartman came in for Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi, who are out for a few weeks.
Speaking after winning the toss, Rahul said, "We'll bowl. We trained here last night and the feedback from the coaches was that there was dew, but it didn't come in as early as Ranchi and Raipur. We were obviously planning to bowl second, keeping our track record in mind. I don't think it's going to play such a big part like Raipur and Ranchi. But, we just want to change the total and see how we can bowl first. Yeah, it looks like a good wicket. For me and from the leadership group, we're really happy with the way we played in the last two games."
"I know from the outside, 360 being chased down looks like a lot is going wrong. But considering the conditions and considering the way our teams are lined up, I think we did really well. There are a lot of positives to take, and I'm really happy with the way we bowled and batted. The chat obviously has been to keep doing the same thing and stay consistent with what we're doing and stay consistent with that process. We know that the results will follow. Not many things that we're looking to change. Just trying to sharpen a couple of things in the field and the results will go our way. One change. Washington Sundar misses out and Tilak Varma comes in," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"I know from the outside, 360 being chased down looks like a lot is going wrong. But considering the conditions and considering the way our teams are lined up, I think we did really well. There are a lot of positives to take, and I'm really happy with the way we bowled and batted. The chat obviously has been to keep doing the same thing and stay consistent with what we're doing and stay consistent with that process. We know that the results will follow. Not many things that we're looking to change. Just trying to sharpen a couple of things in the field and the results will go our way. One change. Washington Sundar misses out and Tilak Varma comes in," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said, "We would have bowled first. A good start upfront will set it up for the middle order, we'll try and put a competitive score on the board and then hopefully defend it. It's been entertaining, hasn't it? From the red ball stuff now to the white ball stuff. The crowd has come out and I'm sure they'll be rooting for the Indian side."
"Today is another important one and like always, we'll do our best to make sure we're on the right side of the result. We've got two changes. Rickelton and Baartman come in. Both of them (Burger and de Zorzi) sustained injuries in the last ODI, I think they'll be out for a couple of weeks. It'll give another opportunity for Baartman and Rickelton to deliver," he added.
India Playing XIs: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
South Africa Playing XIs: Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman