From beating South Africa 6-1 in South Africa to battling to avoid a series sweep in the ongoing tour, India have faced massive ups and downs in fortunes in ODIs at the Rainbow Nation. KL Rahul’s team will look to avoid facing the confident South African side of Temba Bavuma in the third and final ODI of the series in Cape Town on Sunday.
India have managed to win only 1 of their 7 ODI series in South Africa in the past, but have been eliminated in an entire series. However, India could return home empty handed from the ODI series if the first two ODIs are held in Paarl.
Not many expected India to lose the Test series, but they lost 2–1 despite winning the start of the series at Centurion. In the ODI series, India have paid the price for some stubborn selection and old tactics so far.
India’s strategy did not quite match up with the modern day white ball game as the batsmen failed to maintain the momentum in the middle overs and more importantly, the bowlers, barring Jasprit Bumrah, found club class and success. were seen without thoughts.
Will India consider switching to wholesale?
In two matches, India have managed to take only seven wickets – four in the first game when the Proteas batted first and only three in the second.
Ravichandran Ashwin and especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the two senior-most bowlers, looked to be out of danger and young Proteas batsmen such as Rassi van der Dussen, Genman Malan along with seniors such as Quinton de Kock feasted on the pedestrian goods prepared by him.
With both being utter flops, it needs to be seen that Rahul Dravid, who is currently calling all the shots as a tactician, takes a dim view and at least plays Jayant Yadav and Deepak Chahar in the next game. whether or not that will give some freshness to the attack.
Worse, the first two games were played on the Boland Park strip that didn’t have much pace and bounce and even captain KL Rahul admitted that compared to what he was used to getting. The circumstances were more familiar. in South Africa.
However, at Newlands, there will be more pace and bounce on the track and the Indian team which has been struggling relentlessly would like to avoid the notoriety of a 0-3 defeat.
Can KL Rahul go on a high journey?
The entire tour has been a nightmare for skipper Rahul except for his match-winning century in the first Test. Although he is seen as a leader of a long-term future, his leadership did not have the spark that would make anyone sit down and feel that he was cut out for the job.
So far, there has been no tactical improvement in both the matches to instill confidence in his leadership abilities.
Simultaneously, his own style of batting at the top of the order in modern ODIs is outdated and his inability to rotate the strike for the better part is also creating pressure on the latter batsmen, who are not adept at maneuvering the strike. . ,
Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer will also be looked into as both have struggled to move up the middle order.
South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI Squad
India: KL Rahul (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar , Famous Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wk), Zubair Hamza, Marco Jensen, Janman Malan, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwayne Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabrez Shamsi, Rassi van der Dussen, Kyle Verne.