South Africa, India launch mouth-watering one-day battle

DURBAN, South Africa (AP):

With the cricket World Cup looming, India and South Africa square up for a five-match one-day international series that will give two tournament contenders a valuable indication of their limited-overs form.

Following an historic drawn Test series, the first time India have avoided defeat in South Africa, both teams will be much-changed for today's first game at Kingsmead as the 50-over format takes centrestage in the new year.

For India, batsmen Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin are pushing for regular places - and hoping to take advantage before their country co-hosts the World Cup next month.

India will be without injured openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and now seam bowler Praveen Kumar who has a right elbow problem and was ruled out of the series yesterday.

"We haven't been able to play with a probable team (for the World Cup) since last February," captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. "One of our crucial players has always been out injured.

"We will try to feature some new players and just not worry about the conditions here. We definitely have the World Cup in mind and its always good to give the selectors one more option."

Meanwhile, the presence of Pakistan-born legspinner Imran Tahir in South Africa's one-day setup is a dream come true for the Proteas skipper, Graeme Smith.

The South Africans are expected to give Tahir, a 31-year-old former Pakistan A representative who qualified for his adopted country on the last day of 2010, his international debut at his home ground in Durban today.

Not risking kallis

Uncapped Faf du Plessis could also be tried in the absence of allrounder Jacques Kallis, who has a right-side strain and, like Kumar, will not be risked ahead of the February 19-April 2 limited-overs showpiece.

Heading into his ninth year and final series, as South Africa's one-day captain, Smith said he always wanted an attacking spin bowler at his disposal.

"It (having an attacking spinner) is something I have dreamed of throughout my captaincy," said Smith, who will step down as one-day skipper after the World Cup. "It's an asset to have an attacking, wicket-taking option in the middle overs which we haven't really had.

"Johan Botha has been excellent for us, but to have somebody like Imran who can take wickets and change the course of the game together with our frontline seamers, is a wonderful asset."

Tahir could be the final piece of the World Cup puzzle for South Africa, which have never won the tournament and often underperformed.

"It's about finding the right combinations … but at the same time, we have to realise that the World Cup is being played under totally different conditions to what we will be playing here," he said.

Teams are required to finalise their 15-man World Cup squads by January 19, midway the South Africa-India series, giving this contest added value as an indicator of who will be in and out of the World Cup and if either team is in a position to end Australia's run of three consecutive World Cup victories.