Spotlight on Kohli, Rohit

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the third One-Day International between India and South Africa at the ACAVDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

After two high-scoring thrillers, the sides are locked 1-1 in the three-match series.

The hosts won the series opener in Ranchi by 17 runs. Batting first, India amassed 349/8, riding on Virat Kohlis 135 off 120 balls and valuable contributions from Skipper KL Rahul (60 off 56 balls) and Rohit Sharma (57 off 51 balls). Kuldeep Yadav claimed four wickets while Harshit Rana scalped three as South Africa were all out for 332 with four balls to spare.

In the second game in Raipur, hundreds from Virat Kohli (102 off 93 balls) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (105 off 83 balls) went in vain as the visitors, desperate to stay alive in the series, chased down their highest ODI total on Indian soil -- 359 runs to seal a four-wicket victory.

It was a collective batting effort from South Africa in the steep run chase, with opener Aiden Markram (110 off 98 balls), Dewald Brevis (54 off 34 balls), and Matthew Breetzkez (68 off 64 balls) taking them over the line.

As the series heads into a shootout, the spotlight will once again be on the toss and dew.

Historically, the Vizag track has been batting-friendly.  The dew factor, which played a huge role in the outcome of the first two games, will once again be decisive as the team batting second will have an edge.

Can Ro-Ko fire?  

Kohli has two hundreds and a fifty in his last three innings, while Rohit has a hundred and two fifties in his last four outings.

Kohli has a phenomenal record at the ACAVDCA Cricket Stadium, having made 587 runs in seven innings at an average of 97.83 and a strike rate of above 100, with three centuries and two fifties and a best score of 157 not out.

If the maestro manages another three-digit score in Vizag, he will break the 28,000-run barrier in international cricket.

Bowling woes

On paper, Rahuls side is strong in batting, suspect in bowling, particularly the pace department, which is very inexperienced in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Led by the young trio of Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, Indias bowling lacked consistent dominance in the last two games.

Among the three, Arshdeep fared better, registering the best economy among the pacers -- 6.4 in Ranchi and 5.4 in Raipur.

In Raipur, Harshit gave away seven runs per over and Prasidh conceded over 10.

While South Africas all-rounders, especially Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch, were up to the task, their Indian counterparts like Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja failed to live up to the expectations.

It will be India and South Africas 97^th meeting in ODIs with the latter leading the head-to-head count with 52 wins. India have registered 41 victories while as many as three games ended with no result.

Probable XIs

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (Captain & Wicketkeeper, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, and Prasidh Krishna.

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock (Wicketkeeper), Temba Bavuma (Captain)), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, and Ottneil Baartman.