Ind-SA ODI 1 Preview: World Cup on Both Teams' Mind as the 50 Over Battles Resume

Apart from the fact that Praveen Kumar will be returning to India while Ishant Sharma flies back to South Africa, India's preparation for the ODI series against South Africa will be about experimentation as South Africa look to fine tune their plans against one of the serious competition in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

praveen kumar sachin tendulkar sit on tyres

The India-South Africa ODI series commences at Kingsmead, Durban this evening and it will certainly have a more serious feel about it than did the one off Twenty20 match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. If that affair was all about celebrating two outstanding players in the game in Makhaya Ntini and Sachin Tendulkar, in many ways, the ODI series will help shape some new ones as they prepare for the all important glory.

Conditions in South Africa are far removed from those that the teams will encounter in the Indian sub continent in the prestigious ICC tournament. However, the encounter against South Africa will help shape some strong minds under alien conditions as far as India are concerned.

India will be without the services of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who are both injured and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, will be a little weary using the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and the ginger footed Zaheer Khan ahead of the World Cup. However, what Dhoni has going by way of interest is in how he can tweak the team composition for the forthcoming event in finding his weak links and emboldening them as well as trying a few strategies which, given South Africa's conditions, may not really be ideal but worth testing nonetheless.

For South Africa, it is about finding their consistency, their brand of cricket of the past that has made them favourites and tough competition. For Graeme Smith, it is about hitting the straps and making sure his team pulls its weight in using this experience against India to count towards that grand preparations without getting carried away by the fact that their success at home is assurance of success abroad.

South Africa need to get over the mental aspects of the game more than the strategic or personnel part and it would be better for South Africa acclimatize themselves to the enormity of the task ahead of them by treating this series against India as huge so that when the World Cup arrives, none can tag them as chokers for want of more unkind words.

For India, it is about searching within for new, workable plans. For South Africa, it is about discovering their self belief and arming themselves before the World Cup. Expect friction.