From the team point of view, India got most of the aspects correct with both ball and bat in the second ODI versus South Africa to level the series and get ready for the decider at the Kotla in NewDelhi on Tuesday.

But captain Shikhar Dhawan has failed to fire so far in this series. So has his opening partner Shubman Gill, who had scored aplenty in the last couple of series he featured in.

Fortunately for India, Ishan Kishan finding form coming in to bat at No.3 and Shreyas Iyer (at No.4) hitting an unbeaten hundred helped them chase down a tricky 279- run target in the penultimate ODI in Ranchi on Sunday. Otherwise, the going had every possibility of getting tougher once again as the two openers were dismissed with only 48 on the board.

Young Gill, though, had still managed to get off to a fine start on Sunday with some crisp off-drives. But Dhawan, surprisingly, has so far looked extremely subdued and has also been struggling with his timing.

In fact, not being able to score freely seemed to have had an effect on him in the two matches. Set to play at his home ground, all Dhawan —the quality player that he is— needs to do at present is be a little more patient and focus on spending some time at the crease.

Besides, India would also be hoping the cramps Shreyassuffered en route to his second ODI hundred on Sunday don’t affect his participation in the final game.