1. Kohli looks to overtake Dravid, Ganguly
Kohli so far has made 1287 runs against SA in ODIs from 27 matches at 64.35, and he is a few runs behind former Indian skippers Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who have amassed 1313 (29 matches, Avg: 50.50) and 1309 (36 matches, Avg: 39.66) ODI runs against Proteas. This could be a perfect occasion for Kohli end his lean run, while overtaking two of his idols. But overall, Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 2001 runs from 57 matches at 35.73.
2. Kohli looks to surpass Tendulkar
Kohli now has 43 ODI hundreds and he requires seven more centuries to break Sachin Tendulkar's ODI world record of 49. But his last ODI century came against the West Indies at Port of Spain in August 2019 and since then he has hit a block of sorts, failing to convert 50s into 100s. But against South Africa, Tendulkar is the leading century-maker in ODIs with five and Kohli now has 4 hundreds. Can Kohli go past Tendulkar in this count?
3. KulCha eager to shine
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have been very successful against SA in ODIs having taken 18 and 20 wickets respectively from seven games apiece. They will be eager to continue their hunt for wickets in the series. But the leading wicket-taker in bilateral ODIs between India and SA is Shaun Pollock who has 48 wickets from 33 matches, while Anil Kumble has the Indian record with 46 wickets from 40 matches.
4. India look to close gap
India and South Africa have so far played 84 ODIs against each other and the latter holds edge with 46 victories and the hosts have won 35 with three matches producing no results.