SA vs IND: Virat Kohli assists captain KL Rahul with field placement in the third ODI

Virat Kohli might not be India’s captain any more but that doesn’t stop him from being an important part of the leadership group. In the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, Kohli is playing under KL Rahul. While many believed there would be a clash of ego, Kohli has been actively helping Rahul and the latter seems to be fine with the same.

During the third and final ODI of the series, Kohli was spotted having a discussion with Rahul regarding field placement. Notably, Indian bowlers suffered horrendous outings in the first two games of the series. Hence, it was important for the skipper to make proper field placements in the third and final encounter. Owing to the same, Kohli assisted Rahul in the first innings.

Team India eyeing a consolation win

It must be noted that South Africa combinedly lost just seven wickets in the first two games. However, they got bundled out for 287 in the final clash, which is a dead rubber. Now, the onus is on Indian batters to take their side to a consolation win. For the unversed, South Africa convincingly won the first two games and earned an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Having lost the preceding Test series 1-2, the Men in Blue would like to end the dismal tour on a winning note. Speaking of how the first innings panned out, Quinton de Kock slammed his sixth ODI century against India as the home team got off to a stellar start. Besides him, the in-form Rassie van der Dussen slammed an impressive 52.

However, a middle-order collapse meant India were right back in the hunt. David Miller did score an entertaining 39, the fall of wickets from the other end didn’t help the Temba Bavuma-led side much. The hosts eventually lost all their players in the penultimate ball of the innings. Chasing 288 for victory, the Men in Blue lost skipper KL Rahul with just 18 runs on the board.

However, there are still several potent batters in the line-up, who can give Proteas bowlers a tough time. However, the visitors must keep up with the scoring rate as their lower order has struggled in the series.