India vs South Africa Match Prediction: Who will win today's 1st IND vs SA 2025 ODI match?

Amid all the noise around the Test series whitewash, India will look to shun some of it when they take to the field for the first of three ODIs against South Africa at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi on Sunday, November 30. The Men in Blue are on the back of a humbling 2-0 loss to the Proteas.

India also lost their last ODI series, which was in Australia. The hosts will need to get back to winning ways soon, but won't find it easy without Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

South Africa, meanwhile, are high on both form and confidence. With power in the middle order and quality in the pace attack, the visitors will be interested in pushing their opponents into further misery.

India's squad for the South Africa ODI series: KL Rahul (c), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.

South Africa's squad for the India ODI series: Temba Bavuma (c), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.

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IND vs SA 2025: Can India get back to winning ways against South Africa?

England v South Africa - 3rd Metro Bank ODI - Source: Getty

KL Rahul lost the toss, and South Africa opted to chase. That has perhaps given the visitors a slight advantage, since Ranchi is known to produce a ton of dew in the second innings.

In the last ODI played at this venue, incidentally also against the Proteas, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were able to counter a tacky surface because the ball came on better in the second innings. In fact, even towards the end of the first essay, the ball started to skid.

That said, however, India seem to have more bases covered. Prenelan Subrayen is South Africa's only spinner, while the hosts have picked a solid bowling attack that features three specialist fast bowlers and a gun spinner in Kuldeep Yadav.

The Men in Blue have some players itching to make a mark, such as Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order and Ruturaj Gaikwad at No. 4. While the toss going against them was a major blow, India might still have enough in the tank to get the job done.

Prediction: India to win the 1st ODI vs South Africa.