South Africa vs India 2013: 5 talking points from the 1st ODI

3. Dale Steyn v Rohit Sharma was a mismatch

In an opening spell that spewed venom, Dale Steyn could’ve had Rohit Sharma out atleast a dozen times. Steyn stuck to his off-stump channel, generated that late swing and cranked up the pace as well, leaving Rohit clueless. Rohit was so much at sea, that it took him until the 17th ball he faced – all from Steyn – to score his first runs. If those opening 3 overs from Steyn to Rohit were a boxing match, the referee would have stopped the bout and awarded it to Steyn.

Rohit better come to terms with Steyn’s tricks or India might face a similar situation in the remaining two ODIs and the two tests that follow.

4. Yuvraj Singh – Major cause for concern

Yuvraj Singh’s place in the team is in doubt

2 balls. That is all he lasted for his 3rd duck in his last 8 ODI innings. Yuvraj has certainly had better phases in his ODI career. The two balls he faced: The first one, a bouncer that was uncomfortably fended off the glove into the short leg region. Ryan McLaren followed that delivery up with the sucker punch, bowling a full one, catching Yuvraj on the crease and knocking his stumps over.

Right now, Yuvraj is on borrowed time, and it might not be long, before we see him being replaced by Ambati Rayudu or Ajinkya Rahane.

5. Dhoni makes a statement

Once all those wickets fell, not even the great ability of MS Dhoni could’ve brought India back into the game. But, what Dhoni’s 65 atleast did, was send a message across to the Proteas that the leader will stand tall. More importantly, it put across the message to his troops that there were no demons in the wicket, and if the demons in the head could be combatted, all could go right.

Dhoni shielded the tail, struck some lusty blows, and was prepared to fight it out before playing an innocuous delivery from Steyn on to his stumps. The skipper will certainly hope that his innings sent a message across to the troops.

It was maybe the pitch, maybe the lack of proper time to acclimatize to the conditions, but India are certainly a better ODI side than the one that showed up at The Wanderers, and Dhoni will be looking for a sharp response come Durban on Sunday.