Predicting India's 15-man squad for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa
With the unsuccessful tour of New Zealand in the rearview mirror, the Indian team will look to get back to winning ways when they face South Africa in a three-match ODI series later this month. The brief ODI series will commence on 12th March and will culminate on the 18th.
Team India suffered a whitewash defeat in the ODI series against New Zealand, which was the first such instance in almost 22 years. The team management will be hoping for a much better performance during the upcoming series.
The itinerary for the contest against South Africa is as follows -
1st ODI - 12 March (Thursday) | Venue - Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala | Start time - 1:30 PM (IST)
2nd ODI - 15 March (Sunday) | Venue - Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow | Start time - 1:30 PM (IST)
3rd ODI - 18 March (Wednesday) | Venue - Eden Gardens, Kolkata | Start time - 1:30 PM (IST)
India dearly missed their regular openers during the ODI series in New Zealand. The usual suspects in that batting positions, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, missed the series due to injury issues.
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Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal opened the innings in all 3 ODIs but they couldn't put on a single good opening stand. The lack of a solid platform during the initial overs led to India's downfall, putting extra pressure on the middle-order batsmen.
Vice-captian Rohit is set to miss the South Africa series too as he is still recuperating from his ankle injury. But the return of the vastly experienced Dhawan will be a welcome sign for the Indian lineup. He will pair up with either Agarwal or Shaw at the top.
The presence of a seasoned veteran like Dhawan will help the youngsters Shaw and Agarwal; they can learn how to properly build and pace an ODI innings while playing with him.
Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are certainties in the middle order. Kohli might think of taking a break in this series, and in that case Rahul might be appointed as the captain of the side and Shubman Gill might get an ODI call-up.
Maverick all-rounder Hardik Pandya might replace Kedar Jadhav for this series. Manish Pandey performed decently in the limited opportunities he got, so he will likely hold on to his position in the squad.
Rishabh Pant will continue in his role as the reserve wicket-keeper.
In the bowling department no major changes are expected except for Shardul Thakur, who had a very high economy rate in the previous series and might be dropped. Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will form the bowling attack, while Ravindra Jadeja will be the second all-rounder in the squad.
Probable squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav