Ind vs SA: Captain Du Plessis' dream start, and India's ODI challenge

While Virat Kohli's leadership inspires confidence in his troops, his South African counterpart Faf Du Plessis has had a staggering start to his ODI captaincy, having lost only one match at the helm.

After losing a hard-fought Test series 1-2, India would hope to stage a comeback in the limited-overs format.

Ahead of the first ODI between India and South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban, we take a look at how the two teams stack up in terms of numbers.

• The last eight completed One Day Internationals played out between these sides have seen the winner alternate; India claimed victory last time out by a margin of eight wickets (June 2017).

• South Africa has won three bilateral ODI series on the bounce against India (2matches), in fact the Proteas have claimed victories in all four of the previous such series against India on home soil.

• India has been involved in six completed ODI encounters with the Proteas at Kingsmead; South Africa has won on every occasion, the last three by margins of over 130 runs.

India has 29 wins in the 74 ODIs it has played against South Africa so far. The Men in Blue would hope to better the winning percentage of 39 when the action gets underway on Thursday.

While Virat Kohli's leadership inspires confidence in his troops, his South African counterpart Faf Du Plessis has had a staggering start to his ODI captaincy, having lost only one match at the helm.

Kohli's leadership exudes confidence.

- Opta stats

Needless to say, after losing a hard-fought Test series 1-2, India would hope to stage a comeback in the limited-overs format.