India skipper Shihar Dhawan will have his task cut out when India take on South Africa in a do or die clash in the second ODI match in Ranchi. Earlier, India had lost the first match in Lucknow and a loss here would mean curtains for Dhawan and his men. Meanwhile, talking about curtains, one may certainly feel that Dhawan’s T20I career may be over, but the same can be said about him in the ODI formats. Former India Keeper Saba Karim is confident that Dhawan will be opening alongside Rohit Sharma in 2023 World Cup.
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“Shikhar Dhawan’s place in the team has been confirmed. There’s no need to put pressure on him all the time. There will be one or two matches where he won’t score runs. I think the selectors have decided that Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be the openers in the next 50-over World Cup," he said on India News.
Furthermore, speaking on Shardul Thakur, he said that the 30-year-old may lose out to Hardik Pandya as the former is not a strike pacer in the 50-over format. He cited how Pandya is not only better in terms of his all-round skills, he has the ability to play in the middle order as well. While Thakur has blown hot, blown cold when it comes to his batting.
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“He is a very useful player. But Hardik Pandya is a batting all-rounder, while Shardul Thakur is a bowling all-rounder. That’s a big difference. We can surely groom Shardul. But I don’t see him becoming India’s No.1 of No.2 bowler in white-ball cricket. He can only play as a third seamer. If he can bat well, it will be an added advantage," he said.
Deepak Chahar’s unavailability due to a stiff back will complicate selection matters with India looking for a much improved bowling performance in a must win second ODI against South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday. The three-match ODI series in India offers little incentive to the fringe players who have missed the flight to Australia.
But with BCCI revealing Chahar complained of a stiff back following the third T20I against South Africa ahead of the first ODI in Lucknow, it gives India plenty of soul-searching to do on Sunday. They have named allrounder Washington Sundar as his replacement for the remaining two matches of the series.
Mohammad Siraj and Avesh Khan have so far failed to impress and that might open the door for uncapped Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar.
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