India vs South Africa, 1st ODI: Dharamshala weather, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium pitch report

India will look to forget their dismal show against New Zealand in the recently held ODI series as they get ready to clash with South Africa in the first One-day International (ODI) of the three-match series at Dharamsala on Thursday (March 12). 

Notably, the fortunes of India and South Africa have been quite contrasting when it comes to their most recent ODI series. While South Africa managed to defeat Australia in the three-match ODI series at home, India were whitewashed by New Zealand by the same margin during their last series.

India vice-captain Rohit Sharma will remain out of this series too due to a calf injury, which he picked up during the T20I series in New Zealand. The absence of Rohit means that skipper Virat Kohli will have to bounce back in this series after a lacklustre performance in New Zealand.

The return of left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Hardik Pandya will boost the hosts but India will not make the mistake of taking South Africa lightly.

Captained by Quinton de Kock, the visitors will be brimming with confidence mainly due to their recent series sweep over Australia. The South African squad will also be boosted with the return of Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen, who were rested for the ODIs against Australia.

The second and third ODIs will be held at Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18).

There are slight chances of rain during the match but it is expected that the rain will not curtail the length of the match. According to Accuweather, the wind will be blowing at a rate of 11 and 17 km/hr and the temperature is predicted to remain between 8 and 13 Degree Celsius.

The pitch at Dharamshala is completely different from all other pitches in India as it offers some help to the fast bowlers. The stadium is one of the world's highest stadiums in the world and the windy condition here allow the pacers to extract that extra swing which is not seen in other parts of the sub continent. The batsmen will have to spend some time in the middle before going for big shots over the rope. 

India Probable XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa Probable XI: Janneman Malan/Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (C & WK), Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen/JJ Smuts, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla/Beuran Hendricks