India vs South Africa: 3 milestones India players can reach in ODI series

India will take on South Africa in the first of the three ODIs and all eyes will be on Virat Kohli. The right-hander will not captain the side and the way he responds as a batter will be closely watched.

KL Rahul will step in as the stand-in skipper for the side in the absence of Rohit Sharma. This series will be Rahul's audition if he wishes to take over the captaincy of the red ball side.

India were expected to win the Test series, but they lost owing to batting collapses, an area they would want to address in the ODI series. With Rohit Sharma missing and a number of young players in the squad, it will also test the strength of India's bench.

Here we take a look at 3 key milestones Indian players can reach in the ODI series:

#3 Virat Kohli could surpass Sachin Tendulkar as India's highest run-getter away from home

Virat Kohli needs to break his century drought

When India walk out in the first ODI, it will be the first time since October 2016 that Virat Kohli will be playing only as a player in any format. His form in Test cricket has dropped, but he remains a prolific run-scorer in ODIs. Since the start of 2020, the right-hander has scored 560 runs in 12 ODIs, at an average of 46.66 and a strike rate of 90.90.

In the first ODI, Virat Kohli will need nine runs to overtake Sachin Tendulkar to become India's highest run-getter in away ODIs. And there is the small matter of him breaking the century drought. Kohli loves a challenge and he will surely be up for this big one.

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#2 Yuzvendra Chahal on the cusp of a ton

India needs a solid performance from Chahal

It has been a rather strange few months for Yuzvendra Chahal. He was not picked for the T20 World Cup, had a fantastic IPL in UAE and has now been picked for this series. He needs to step up and make his presence felt.

He will have added motivation to get him going. He needs just three wickets to complete 100 ODI wickets. In the last ODI series played in South Africa, he combined brilliantly with Kuldeep Yadav to spin a web around South Africa. He will hope to find that form once again.

With wickets in Australia being similar, a solid performance here could see him back in the reckoning for the T20 World Cup.

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#1 Jasprit Bumrah to cross 150 matches

Bumrah is all set to play his 150th match for India

Jasprit Bumrah has been named vice-captain for the ODIs, but since this series is not part of the World Cup Super League, his workload will be keenly tracked.

We expect him to start the series and when he steps out to play the first ODI, he will be completing 150 matches for India across formats. His impact during the powerplay overs and then towards the backend will be crucial. If he does get rested over the course of the series, Bumrah needs to be impactful in his 150th match.

Also, how he teams up with captain KL Rahul will be closely observed since India need a new leadership group for Test matches.