South Africa will play against Pakistan in the first of five One Day Internationals on March 10, 2013 in Bloemfontein. The Proteas will look forward to starting the ODI series on a winning note.
The South Africans were trashed by the Pakistan team in the recent T20 game last weekend. They rested a lot of key players in that match but they return for this series which would make this an interesting series.
The Proteas are way ahead of the opposition in Tests, but their limited-overs stats in the recent past has not been very impressive. They were beaten by England 2-1 at the end of last year, and also took a beating against New Zealand by the same margin earlier this year.
South Africa have a strong line up with regards to batting and bowling and can be a threat to any opposition team. Hashim Amla would be the key player for the home team as he is the top ODI and Test batsman. He does well against any attack and will look forward to putting up a winning total on the board.
In the bowling department, Dale Steyn will be the crucial man to do the damage for the home side. Morne Morkel is still struggling with a hamstring injury is expected to play for at least some of the games in this series.
Pakistan are a tough one-day side, most of who played in the T20 that saw them trounce the Proteas by 95 runs last week. They will look at keeping the momentum going in the ODI series as well.
Mohammed Hafeez will be the main player for the visiting side as the Proteas don’t seem to be very comfortable playing against his bowling. He is also an outstanding batsman who can single-handedly take the game away from the opposition.
Pakistan’s have some quality bowlers in the team in the form of Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammed Hafeez, and of course Mohammed Gul who destroyed the home side in the T20 game. The visiting side will try to capitalize on their strength and look to restrict the South Africans from posting a huge total.
Though the teams are well balanced, South Africa have a better chance of winning the game as they are more consistent among the two teams, and playing on their home ground will work in their favor in registering a win against the visiting side.
Squads
South Africa: AB de Villiers, Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis. Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Younis Khan