India vs South Africa, 5th ODI: Fantasy Preview

India and South Africa will meet in the final ODI of the five-match series in Lucknow on Wednesday (March 17). While the series has already been decided, with South Africa gaining a 3-1 lead after winning the fourth ODI by seven wickets, both teams will consider every match to be important considering the 2022 World Cup is less than a year away. 

While South Africa have won three of the four matches in this series, India have the edge when you consider the overall ODI record between the two teams.

ODI HEAD-TO-HEAD 

Overall: Matches – 26 | India – 15 Wins | South Africa – 10 Wins | No Result – 1

Last 5 Matches: India – 2 Wins | South Africa – 3 Wins 

SUGGESTED TEAMS

GROUND DETAILS & TEAM COMBINATION

All games on this tour will be played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. In the first four matches of this series, the team batting second won each time. So, you might want to wait until the toss to decide on your final team combination. In the four games so far, the average run-rate has been 4.7 while a wicket has fallen every 44.2 runs and 56 deliveries.

We’ve selected six batters (including one wicketkeeper), two all-rounders and three bowlers in our team. It’s a slightly batting-heavy team because the conditions have been friendlier for batters in the last couple of matches.

If Jhulan Goswami, 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. If you want to include Mithali in your team, then you might want to look at selecting either Mansi Joshi, Lara Goodall or Priya Punia as they are between 8-8.5 credits on FanFight which will free up the budget.

CAPTAIN/VICE-CAPTAIN SUGGESTION

While Smriti Mandhana made an excellent half-century in the second match of the series, she hasn't made big contributions in the other three games so far. In ODIs since 2018, Mandhana has a batting average of 36.8 while batting first and that number is at an incredible 123.8 while batting second. It has been a similar situation in this series as she shone in the only match India chased in.

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Mandhana could score 18-51 runs in this match.

Interestingly, Lizelle Lee also has similar numbers as Mandhana when you check for batting first and second stats separately. In this series, Lee has scored 50+ in each innings that South Africa have batted second in while she was dismissed for four while batting first. In ODIs since 2018, Lee has a batting average of 26.8 while batting first while it is 70.1 while batting second. Therefore, one way to look at captaincy for this game could be to select Mandhana or Lee for that role based on which team is batting second.

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Lee could score 20-53 runs in this match.

X-FACTORS

Punam Raut has been in quite an extraordinary form during the ongoing series. She has scored 50+ in each of the last three matches, including a splendid century in the most recent game of the series. Among Indian batters, she is the top run-scorer in this series, having notched up 253 runs in four innings and, in two of those knocks, she remained unbeaten.

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Raut could score 20-53 runs.

Shabnim Ismail has been really impressive in this series, having taken seven wickets at a strike rate of 30.8. She has been very consistent, taking at least one wicket in each of the four matches so far. In fact, among South African bowlers, she is the highest wicket-taker in the series currently. In seven ODIs in 2021, Ismail has taken 14 wickets at a strike rate of 27.8.

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Ismail could take 1-2 wickets in this match.