South Africa vs India 2018: What questions surround team selection ahead of the 3rd Test?
Since Virat Kohli became captain, the team has been going through frequent changes from time to time. Primarily they are going for the 'horses for courses' strategy. But doing that has been adversely affecting the team balance and the players are not confident about their place in the side. Players sometimes start to doubt themselves and seek their own identity as a player which results in them trying to be players that they are not.
In the ongoing series against South Africa, rampant and unexpected changes in the team have caused a reasonable number of the players to feel insecure about their place in the side.
The first one of them is opener, Shikhar Dhawan. When he looks in fine touch, he can single-handedly steal the game from the opposition. However, after failing in the first Test he was taken out from the playing eleven of the second Test match.
Sunil Gavaskar was quick to remark that he has always been the 'scapegoat' in this Indian team — "he is always the one who pays for team's poor performance overseas." Remember, he wasn't the only one who failed in that Test match. Many a time, we have seen Dhawan being dropped after the very first Test match.
Now, in place of Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul was chosen to open in for the 2nd Test. Shaun Pollock suggested that the decision was not a very good one mainly because after failing in the first Test Dhawan would now know more about what not to do, whereas KL Rahul would still be learning in the second Test match.
Add to that the fact that India hasn't played any practice game leading up to this crucial series, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Cometh the 2nd Test and Rahul scored 10 & 4 in the match. So now, what will team management do? Will they drop Rahul and bring Dhawan in? Once again questions hover; critical ones at that.
The decision that raised many eyebrows was to take Bhuvneshwar Kumar out and bring Ishant Sharma in for the 2nd Test. The buzz was that the pitch doesn't suit his kind of bowling. We all know Bhuvneshwar Kumar was unarguably the team's best performer along with Hardik Pandya in the 1st Test — both with the bat and ball. Now that Ishant has done well, how will skipper Kohli bring Bhuvneshwar in, since all the three front line bowlers have arguably done well.
The final one is the most important, and might just be the one that decides the fate of the team. After having decided against playing Ajinkya Rahane in the 1st match, Kohli said "See, there were not many who thought that Rahane should play." Well, the truth could be otherwise. It was widely thought that he should and would play. He is India's overseas star. When few stands up and fight outside the sub-continent, Rahane usually rises to the occasion and scores exceptionally well.
Current performance has made them try Rohit Sharma. But he failed in both Tests. Will the innings of 47 save his place or result in bringing Rahane in? If Rahane comes back for the last Test, the doubt that would be lingering in his mind would be 'what if I fail in the last Test match? The constant chop and change raise all these questions.
India does have one other headache; after the injury suffered by the premier wicket-keeper, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel played the second Test. He failed miserably behind and in front of the stumps. As a replacement for Saha, the selectors have brought Dinesh Karthik into the squad. Now who will play the third Test match, Parthiv Patel or Dinesh Karthik?
One equally important aspect is definition of Hardik Pandya as a Test cricketer. Is he one of the main bowlers or is he the number six batsman? If he is neither, then he is not being made accountable for any category in the game. Some would argue that, more than anyone else, Pandya needs to define his role in the side.
He is delivering in terms of performances, but he still needs to define himself as one specific kind of player, otherwise he is negatively affecting the team balance.
If we were to consider all the great all-rounders of history — the likes of Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff — all proved their prominence either with the bat or ball and added more value to the team with their other skills. Hardik Pandya cannot be a 'bits and pieces' in the longer version of the game. So, the team management needs to bite the bullet and make Hardik Pandya the permanent no.6 batsman.
After analyzing everything it will be interesting to see how the selection of the playing eleven for the final Test match in Johannesburg pans out.