http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in ODI series
After squaring a hard fought test match series Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 has the ODI series in his sight, as South Africa and the touring Indians lock horns in the first of five match series to be played later today at the Kingsmead in Durban.
The South Africans are firm favourites, given their track record at home in the 50 overs format. Other than the Aussies no team has been able to consistently challenge them at home, while the Indians were blanked last time the two teams played a series four years ago.
Dhoni mentioned the thrashing his team received then, and claimed that the squad was ready to turn the tables after performing brilliantly in the last two test matches, besides scoring an impressive win in the only T20 match played in the same city on Sunday.
MS Dhoni said, "We did lose all the games [the last time http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 played a bilateral one-day series in South Africa], There's only one way to go - you can only go up from there."
He felt that batting conditions were a lot easier in the day time as the ball generally tends to swing a great deal under the lights, which make even an average bowling line-up decent.
On the other hand, Dhoni added that the Indians don't yet have their first choice playing eleven ready because of injury concerns in the squad. Pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 who were both carrying niggles were sent back, in order for them to regain full fitness before the start of the World Cup next month.
"We don't want to miss any of the key players just before the start of the World Cup. Most of them have missed the whole season. I don't mind them missing one more series as long as they are available right through the World Cup”, concluded Dhoni.
Meanwhile the series would be taken as a warm-up for the tournament by both teams; they are already finalizing their plans for the premier ODI tournament which is being played in India, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. As such, it remains to be seen if the series generates the same level of excitement as the test series did.
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