Bench strength on trial

Johannesburg: A historic series triumph sealed, India are expected to put their bench strength to test while a vanquished South Africa would aim for a consolatory win when the two sides square off in the sixth and final ODI at Centurion on Friday.

The Men in Blue have already won the six-match series 4-1, after victories in Durban, Centurion, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Their only loss came at the rain-affected fourth ODI in Johannesburg.
With victory in the last game, India also confirmed their No.1 spot in the ICC ODI Rankings, displacing South Africa who were sitting atop at the start of this series.

Having won the series, India would like to carry on momentum forward, especially with the three-match T20I series to follow soon after. Yet, the visitors would also like to find a balance between going all out in a dead rubber and resting a few players keeping in mind a long overseas schedule later this year.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has nearly played non-stop since the limited-overs leg of the tour of Sri Lanka, featuring in 19 ODIs and six T20Is as well as two Tests on this tour.

Jasprit Bumrah too has played 20 ODIs since that Lanka tour, along with eight T20Is and his workload has only increased given that he played through the Test series here as well.Rest will do both of them some good especially ahead of the next contest.

India's second line of pace attack needs some attention. Since that Sri Lanka tour, the Men in Blue have played 20 ODIs and the Kumar-Bumrah duo has not featured together in only one of them -- at Bengaluru against Australia.One way to look at this is the splendid job they have done as the foremost new-ball pairing in limited-overs' cricket.