FANTASY
Follow UsAfter two one-sided results in favour of either team, the third One-Day International (ODI) in the series saw a closely-fought contest with South Africa defeating India by six runs via the DLS method. With South Africa holding a 2-1 lead in the series, the fourth ODI, to be played on Sunday (March 14), will be a must-win game for India.
India have the upper hand when it comes to past fixtures between the two teams, having won 15 matches and lost nine against South Africa in ODIs.
ODI HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall: Matches – 25 | India – 15 Wins | South Africa – 9 Wins | No Result – 1
Last 5 Matches: India – 3 Wins | South Africa – 2 Wins
SUGGESTED TEAMS
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms we come up with six different teams that could fetch crucial points.
GROUND DETAILS & TEAM COMBINATION
All games in this tour will be played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. In the first three matches of this series, the team batting second has won each time. In those games, the average run-rate has been 4.5 while a wicket has fallen every 36.9 runs and 49.6 deliveries.
On first look, it might seem like our team is not balanced well, as it has seven players from India and just four from South Africa. The main reason for that is the uncertainty over the availability of a couple of South African players for this game. If Sune Luus and Trisha Chetty play, then you should definitely consider them while creating your team. We didn’t have enough budget to select Mithali Raj, or else she’d be one of the first names in our team.
CAPTAIN SUGGESTION
Smriti Mandhana was excellent in the second match, scoring an unbeaten 80, before falling for 25 in the third ODI. However, what stands out for her is her prolific batting in the 50-over format in the last three years. Since the start of 2018, she has scored 1211 runs at an average of 67.3. During the same time, while batting second, her batting average is an incredible 123.8 with 50+ scores in each of 10 innings.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Mandhana could score 19-52 runs in this match.
X-FACTORS
In the third ODI on Friday, Lizelle Lee made her highest-ever score in international cricket, scoring an unbeaten 132 from just 131 deliveries. In three innings in this series, she has scored 80+ twice already. Based on this form, we have selected her as the vice-captain of our team. Since the start of 2020, she has scored 472 runs at an average of 67.4 in ODIs, with three 50+ scores in nine innings.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Lee could score 18-51 runs in this match.
Deepti Sharma scored an unbeaten 36 before picking up the important wicket of Laura Wolvaardt. In ODIs, she has a batting average of 38.9 and a bowling average of 28.1 which are elite stats for any all-rounder. In addition to her ability to contribute as a batter and as a bowler, she has also taken three catches in this series so far which is an added bonus.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Deepti could score 15-40 runs and could take 0-1 wickets in this match.
Another all-rounder you can look at selecting is Marizanne Kapp. While by her high standards, she isn’t having a great series until now, 10 runs and two wickets in three matches, it’ll be a big risk to not select her in your team. After all, she has been one of the top all-rounders in recent years. Since the start of 2019, Kapp has scored 333 runs at an average of 47.6 and taken 22 wickets at an average of 23.3 in ODIs.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Kapp could score 9-34 runs and could take 0-1 wickets in this match.
