Skipper Temba Bavuma has been woefully out of form since his return from injury and also missed the last two ODI due to illness.
India, missing their top players, aim to punch above their weight and seal a memorable series victory against South Africa in the third and final ODI in New Delhi on Tuesday.
South Africa have named three front-line spinners in their squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Oman but left out opening batsman Janneman Malan.
The Netherlands caused the World Cup's second major upset in three days, as it shocked an in-form South Africa by 38 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin's superlative show in the fourth Test against Australia has helped him regain the top spot among bowlers in the latest ICC Rankings.
'He has scored one fifty in five matches, and it was a scratchy fifty against Netherlands.'
Rishabh Pant made no bones about the uninspiring performance of the two leading spinners
'Because we can control the controllable things, so we just think about that.'
Who do you think should be part of India's playing for the second and final Test against South Africa?
Aiden Markram handed South Africa a strong start, but fell just four short of his ton as West Indies fought back on the opening day of the second Test.
However, South Africa have lot of openers stacked on top (Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks) with a light middle order which is still a huge concern.
India captain K L Rahul attributed the 0-3 drubbing from South Africa in the ODI series to collective failure and said there is no shying away from the fact that the visitors have "gone wrong".
The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 stage is set as all 10 captains gathered on Wednesday at the world's largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on the eve of the biggest Cricket World Cup ever.
They got into trouble early on in their reply as they slipped to 87-4, only to cruise to victory thanks to Klaasen's power hitting with an astonishing 123 balls remaining in the innings.
South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock skipped Tuesday's Twenty20 World Cup match against West Indies citing "personal reasons" after the team were directed to take a knee in their remaining matches in the tournament.
Australian captain Aaron Finch said his team "needed a bit of luck" to get the better of South Africa in their ICC T20 World Cup opener here on Saturday.
Australia captain Pat Cummins lavished praise on Mitchell Starc as the rangy left-arm paceman joined the 300 wickets club in style on Sunday during the first Test win over South Africa.
Legendary South Africa batter Hashim Amla says more "collective experience" in the Indian side was one of the key factors in the visiting side's comfortable victory in the series-opener at Centurion.
A new-look Indian team, led by Shikhar Dhawan, will be hoping to make a statement and be in the reckoning for next year's 50-over World Cup when the three-match ODI series against South Africa begins in Lucknow on Thursday.
The sound and fury of World Cup 2023 has ended, and Norma Astrid Godinho picks her World Cup XI.
IMAGES from the 4th T20I between India and South Africa played in Rajkot on Friday.
We were not good enough, conditions are not an excuse, says Rohit Sharma
Batsmen Temba Bavuma and Keegan Petersen, left-arm seam bowler Beuran Hendricks, and all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo will join the team in Johannesburg on Wednesday
IMAGES from the ICC World Cup match between Pakistan and South Africa, in Chennai, on Friday.
A fragile middle-order and lack of wickets in the middle overs are obvious areas of improvement needed for the Indian team, skipper K L Rahul admitted after an embarrassing ODI series defeat against South Africa in Paarl on Friday.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 1st Test played between South Africa and West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday.
South Africa's skipper Temba Bavuma was pleased with the way his pacers performed in the demolition of Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup Super 12s match, in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday.
Rahul made 51 not out and Yadav, the world's second-ranked Twenty20 batsman, remained unbeaten on 50 off 33 balls as India romped home with 20 balls to spare.
Kerala's Sanju Samson, 27, was part of the ODI series against Zimbabwe which India won 3-0. He has represented India in seven ODIs and 16 T20Is so far.
South Africa were bowled out for 152 in the first innings at the formerly-named Brisbane Cricket Ground. They were then routed for 99 shortly after tea on day two, leaving Australia needing just 34 runs for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Despite the win the Pakistan skipper expressed disappointment at the form shown by him and opener Mohammad Rizwan, as both the batters failed to contribute.
Captain Quinton de Kock smashed a sparkling century as South Africa eased to a seven-wicket victory over World champions England in the opening One-Day International, at Newlands, on Tuesday.
Skipper K L Rahul blamed lack of wickets in the middle overs and a below-par show by the middle order batters for India's 31-run defeat to South Africa in the One-Day International series-opener, in Paarl, on Wednesday.
IMAGES from the T20 World Cup, Super 12 match between Australia and South Africa.
Rishabh Pant broke Mahendra Singh Dhoni's record to become the fastest Indian wicketkeeper to reach 100 dismissals, during the first Test against South Africa in Centurion on Tuesday.
Having lost the toss in all four matches of the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, India's stand-in captain Rishabh Pant said he will spin the coin with his right hand in the series-deciding game in Bengaluru on Sunday.
KL Rahul will have to show drastically improved leadership acumen when he leads India against a buoyant South African side in the second ODI on Thursday.
India will need another near perfect game to take the five-match series into the decider.
India, who finished on 240-8, are missing key white-ball players who are in Australia for the Twenty20 World Cup.
The board said no replacement will be brought in for Rabada as there is an extended squad in place in the Bio-Secure Environment (BSE), but George Linde has been retained from the Test team as an extra spin-bowling option for the series.
