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Durban: South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to bat against India in the first ODI at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday.
It is the final ODI series that India and South Africa play before the World Cup starting on February 19 and both the sides would look to settle their squads for the big event through these five matches.
The series is a golden opportunity for the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina to make a case for World Cup selection.
They did well for themselves and the team by guiding India to a fine 21-run win in the Twenty20 match on Sunday with valuable batting contributions.
The series will see the return of the iconic Sachin Tendulkar to the Indian one-day fold after close to a year. The last time he played an ODI, Tendulkar became the first batsman in the history of the game's format to strike a double hundred.
The opposition in that historic match at Gwalior also happened to be South Africa and Graeme Smith and his men would be praying that the champion batsman does not do an encore.
For the off-colour Yuvraj Singh, it is the final chance to convince the selectors that he is the same destructive force which won India many a matches before the stunning slump of form.
On the bowling front, the ever-reliable Zaheer Khan will spearhead the attack that will have Ashish Nehra and the rather inconsistent Munaf Patel. Harbhajan Singh will as usual shoulder the spin responsibilities.
South Africa, on the other hand, would be, missing prolific all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who is nursing an injury. The veteran has been the rock around whom the South African batting has revolved as was evident during the drawn Test series.
But the Proteas still have a good batting reserve with skipper Graeme Smith, the explosive duo of AB de Villiers and JP Duminy and the consistent Hashim Amla to anchor the middle-order.
As for bowling, Dale Steyn has been in red hot form and has Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell as his speed partners.
All eyes will also be on the 31-year-old Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir, who is expected to make his debut after getting South African citizenship a few weeks ago.
Teams
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & wicketkeeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn.
