India vs South Africa ODI series: Statistical preview

The two super houses of One-Day Internationals (ODIs), India and South Africa, will play a five-match ODI series starting October 11, 2015. Bharath Seervi presents some numbers and statistics related to this series.

A series between India and South Africa is always a mouth-watering event in cricketing world. Both sides have dominated the limited-overs format for over two decades, and have boasted some of the greatest players over years. It is expected to be thriller of a series.

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India have not had a good start to their home season of 2015-16. They lost the first two T20Is to South Africa and the third was washed out. However, the ODI series is expected to be a good contest. Kanpur, Indore, Rajkot, Chennai and Mumbai will host the matches that will go on from October 11 to October 25. READ: South Africa win T20I series 2-0 after washout of 3rd match at Kolkata

Let us have a preview of numbers, statistics and records of ODIs played between the two sides since 1991.

Head to Head in ODIs:

Some numbers:

5: The last time India and South Africa played a 5-match bilateral ODI series in India was in 1999-00 which India won 3-2. Since then there have been 2 ODI series between these two teams in India — one of 4 matches and other of 3.

1-2 (3): Both India and South Africa played their last ODI series in Bangladesh. Both sides lost the 3-match series 1-2. South Africa’s previous away ODI series also resulted in a defeat (1-4) against Australia. Before that South Africa lost only one ODI series outside South Africa in 10 series.

63.91: AB de Villiers’ ODI average in India. He has scored 767 runs in 15 innings with 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries. His average is the best by any visiting batsman who batted a minimum of 15 innings in ODIs in India. He averages 76 against India in ODIs in India.

114*, 102* & 52: Scores by De Villiers in his last three ODIs against India in India.

300: India needs four more victories to complete 300 ODI wins in Asia. Before the start of the series, India have played 544 ODIs in Asia, winning 296 and losing 222, while 24 matches were no-result occasions and 2 were tied. Pakistan is next with 292 ODI wins in Asia.

67.73 & 56.35: Batting averages of the opposing captains in this ODI series. De Villiers averages 67.73 as captain in 67 innings while MS Dhoni averages 56.35 in 156. These two top the chart of the best batting average as captain in ODIs among all those who batted at least 15 innings as captain in ODIs.

54.30, 53.27, 52.24 & 50.66: Batting averages of Hashim Amla, de Villiers, Dhoni and Virat Kohli respectively. Among active cricketers, these are the only four batsmen who average more than 50 of all who played a minimum of 50 ODI innings. It is always a great encounter when the best are pitted against the best!

The records:

401 for 3: Highest team total in an India-South Africa ODI. India did this at Gwalior in 2009-10 when Sachin Tendulkar scored the first ODI double-century. The highest by South Africa against India is 365 for 2 at Ahmedabad in the next match.

91: Lowest innings total in an India-South Africa ODI. India were bowled out for 91 at Durban in 2006-07. South Africa’s lowest total against India is 117 at Nairobi in 1999-00.

2,001: Aggregate runs by Tendulkar against South Africa — the most in India-South Africa ODIs. Jacques Kallis (1,535) has the most for South Africa.

200*: Highest individual score in India vs South Africa ODIs — by Tendulkar. Quinton de Kock’s 135 at Johannesburg in 2014-15 is the highest for South Africa.

48: Wickets by Shaun Pollock against India — the most by anyone in India-South Africa matches. Anil Kumble (46) has the most for India.

5 for 6: Best bowling figures by Sunil Joshi for India against South Africa at Nairobi in 1999-00. His figures read 10-6-6-5. It was the same match where South Africa were all out for 117. Allan Donald’s 5 for 29 at Kolkata in 1991-92 (in South Africa’s first ever ODI) remain the highest for South Africa against India.

235: The highest stand for any wicket in an India-South Africa match — shared by Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs for the first wicket at Kochi in 1999-00. The best for India is 194 between Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik for the second wicket at Gwalior in 2009-10.

Let us see if any of the above record gets broken in these five matches!

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)