South Africa V India, 5th ODI: 3 Strategies Aiden Markram Might Employ

After some sensational brand of cricket by the Men in Blue in the first three ODI’s of the ongoing 6 match series against the Proteas, the home team kept the series alive with a brilliant victory yesterday at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg to make the scoreline 3-1 favour of India. It was young skipper Aiden Markram’s first victory as a South African skipper and it might be the start of something special.

Heinrich Klassen and David Miller struck some lusty blows and in the end, it was Andile Phehlukwayo who struck 5 balls 23 which was studded with 3 sixes and a four as South Africa won the match quite comprehensively in the end.

So with the 5^th match and yet another must-win match for the Proteas coming up here are 3 possible strategies which Aiden Markram might employ to help South Africa win another match in the series and keep the series alive

Keep attacking the wrist spinners

Their ploy to attack the wrist spinners paid rich dividends but the dew factor came in to effect as Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal found it difficult to grip the ball, Klassen and Miller went after them pretty well especially in a situation when the hosts had nothing to lose. With the return of AB de Villiers, they will be a more confident unit and will look to defy the Indian spinners in the last couple of matches.

Should look to stop the run flow in the middle overs

The Men in Blue has been terrific in the middle overs as Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli has been in sublime form. After a good inning in the opening ODI Rahane hasn’t really got going but the top order has lived up to the expectations barring a certain Rohit Sharma who has been woefully out of runs in this tour so far. Markram will look to keep changing the bowlers in the middle overs to make sure that India doesn’t get accustomed to a certain bowler. He can take a leaf out of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni who has been quite vocal on the pitch.

Put Heinrich Klassen up the order

Markram hasn’t quite found form in the series so far and on the other it was it was Heinrich Klassen who played a terrific knock yesterday. With the confidence in his stride, Markram should think of sending him to open the innings with Amla and get them off to a flying start. He is a free-flowing batsman and it was evident from how he paced his innings to perfection yesterday. Due to his heroics, he also earned the first Man of the Match Award in his ODI career.

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