"A lot of people didn't have belief in us but as a team we knew that we were very close in the first two Tests too. We knew that if we played better in pressure situations than them, then we would win. And we did that in this Test match. This win was very important from our and the Indian team's point of view, and we were determined to win this match," an ecstatic Virat Kohli said after India's win over South Africa at the Wanderers in the third Test of the series.
The Indian skipper had a point. India did come close to beating the Proteas in their backyard in the first two Tests but panicked in key moments. What could possibly have made a difference? A valuable 68-ball 48 from No 6 when India were chasing a below par total at Cape Town? Maybe. An eye-popping inswinger to get rid of AB de Villiers when he was running havoc at Centurion? Most likely.
India captain Virat Kohli (L) and coach Ravi Shastri have a job on their hands ahead of the ODI series. AP
The exclusions of Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two of India's most outstanding performers in overseas Tests, made little sense and might have played a critical role in the outcome of the series. While India can celebrate the rare taste of victory away from the comforts of home, they would do well to recall that if they had avoided a few selection mishaps, they might well have been celebrating a series victory right now.
With that in mind, India move on to the One Day Internationals – six of them – where the hosts are the No 1-ranked team with 120 rating points. India are within touching distance at 119 points and would eye a series win to go past the Proteas. But they won just two of the last eight ODIs played against the South Africans in South Africa which isn't the kind of record you would want to glance at to boost your confidence close to a new series.
Even when Kohli and his team were enjoying a pompous run back home, South Africa beat them 3-2 in India with the final game in Mumbai - another pitch controversy-marred match where Ravi Shastri shouted at the curator - seeing the visitors rack up 438 on the board and beat India by a whooping 214 runs.
India, though, have been outstanding in ODIs of late with a Champions Trophy final fiasco being the lone black mark in a wonderful year. The year 2018 presents a different challenge in the form of South Africa on their intimidating wickets but India will be relieved to know that de Villiers, a nemesis in the Test series for them, has been ruled out of the first three ODIs with a finger injury.
None of this will matter if India don't get their XI right in the ODIs. Given Kohli's strange fetishes it wouldn't be a surprise if India dish out a few odd selections. Here is an insight into the squad picked and the choices in front of India ahead of a high profile series:
Choosing their best spinner
India have three specialist spinners in the squad - Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel - which is a tad surprising given that the conditions in South Africa are unlikely to demand the inclusion of more than one at any venue. Given the kind of wickets rolled out in the Tests, the visitors shouldn't expect anything different in the ODIs particularly with Faf du Plessis reiterating that his mindset on pitch preparation won't change after the loss at Wanderers.
"I'm just under the opinion that - whether it's one percent or five percent or ten percent - you must try and get an advantage against opposition that is quality," the Proteas skipper had explained.
Much of India's success post the Champions Trophy came with the help of wrist spinners, Chahal and Kuldeep, bowling tight, wicket-taking spells in the middle-overs. However, India might have to choose between the two for the ODIs here in the Rainbow Nation and it could get really tricky since neither have been tested outside the subcontinent much.
Kuldeep and Chahal took 22 and 21 wickets last year at averages of 24.77 and 28.57 respectively in 14 games each. Choosing between the two could be a hell of a task for the Indian management.
Identifying the right seamers
India's choice of pacers came under scathing criticism in the Tests and might have played a role in them not being able to grab crucial moments in the first two Tests. Inj the ODI series they will have four frontline fast bowlers to choose from, with the three in the Tests – Bhuvneshwar, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah – supported by Shardul Thakur, who returns in place of Siddharth Kaul.
Given that India have Hardik Pandya also for seam up options, it is unlikely that all four would play in the same XI, and that gives the edge to the three who are more familiar with the conditions here having featured in the Test series.
They are also the more experienced of the fast bowlers and bring different skill-sets to the table. However, with the World Cup in England next year, India would also need to work on widening their pool of players, and giving Thakur a few games should also be on their check list.
The middle-order conundrum
While young Shreyas Iyer impressed with back-to-back half-centuries against Sri Lanka in Mohali and Vishakhapatnam, India have a slew of options at their disposal in the middle-order. Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav and Iyer might be tussling for two spots in the middle-order. Rahane, who has batted in the middle-order previously, has been declared as the back-up opener and it was made clear by Kohli on a number of occasions that Rahane was not being looked at as a middle-order batsman.
Iyer and Karthik should ideally be the favourites to grab the two open spots but this is where it gets really tricky. With no part-time bowler in the whole squad - if you exclude Kohli's average dibbly-dobbly bowling and MS Dhoni's rare spells - other than Kedar Jadhav's slingy off-breaks, India will want the five bowlers they pick to complete their quota of 10 overs, which is, however, a huge ask for someone like Hardik Pandya who has completed his full quota of overs just nine times in 32 ODIs.
This alone puts Jadhav in line for a place in the starting XI. His batting capabilities also hold him in good stead. Iyer should ideally grab the No 4 slot ahead of Pandey and Karthik but will need to perform well to retain it for the whole length of the series. All in all, the selection conundrum is getting more acute and Kohli will once again be in the spotlight if he has a gamble up his sleeve.
Published Date: Jan 31, 2018
| Updated Date: Jan 31, 2018
"A lot of people didn't have belief in us but as a team we knew that we were very close in the first two Tests too. We knew that if we played better in pressure situations than them, then we would win. And we did that in this Test match. This win was very important from our and the Indian team's point of view, and we were determined to win this match," an ecstatic Virat Kohli said after India's win over South Africa at the Wanderers in the third Test of the series.
The Indian skipper had a point. India did come close to beating the Proteas in their backyard in the first two Tests but panicked in key moments. What could possibly have made a difference? A valuable 68-ball 48 from No 6 when India were chasing a below par total at Cape Town? Maybe. An eye-popping inswinger to get rid of AB de Villiers when he was running havoc at Centurion? Most likely.
India captain Virat Kohli (L) and coach Ravi Shastri have a job on their hands ahead of the ODI series. AP
The exclusions of Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two of India's most outstanding performers in overseas Tests, made little sense and might have played a critical role in the outcome of the series. While India can celebrate the rare taste of victory away from the comforts of home, they would do well to recall that if they had avoided a few selection mishaps, they might well have been celebrating a series victory right now.
With that in mind, India move on to the One Day Internationals – six of them – where the hosts are the No 1-ranked team with 120 rating points. India are within touching distance at 119 points and would eye a series win to go past the Proteas. But they won just two of the last eight ODIs played against the South Africans in South Africa which isn't the kind of record you would want to glance at to boost your confidence close to a new series.
Even when Kohli and his team were enjoying a pompous run back home, South Africa beat them 3-2 in India with the final game in Mumbai - another pitch controversy-marred match where Ravi Shastri shouted at the curator - seeing the visitors rack up 438 on the board and beat India by a whooping 214 runs.
India, though, have been outstanding in ODIs of late with a Champions Trophy final fiasco being the lone black mark in a wonderful year. The year 2018 presents a different challenge in the form of South Africa on their intimidating wickets but India will be relieved to know that de Villiers, a nemesis in the Test series for them, has been ruled out of the first three ODIs with a finger injury.
None of this will matter if India don't get their XI right in the ODIs. Given Kohli's strange fetishes it wouldn't be a surprise if India dish out a few odd selections. Here is an insight into the squad picked and the choices in front of India ahead of a high profile series:
Choosing their best spinner
India have three specialist spinners in the squad - Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel - which is a tad surprising given that the conditions in South Africa are unlikely to demand the inclusion of more than one at any venue. Given the kind of wickets rolled out in the Tests, the visitors shouldn't expect anything different in the ODIs particularly with Faf du Plessis reiterating that his mindset on pitch preparation won't change after the loss at Wanderers.
"I'm just under the opinion that - whether it's one percent or five percent or ten percent - you must try and get an advantage against opposition that is quality," the Proteas skipper had explained.
Much of India's success post the Champions Trophy came with the help of wrist spinners, Chahal and Kuldeep, bowling tight, wicket-taking spells in the middle-overs. However, India might have to choose between the two for the ODIs here in the Rainbow Nation and it could get really tricky since neither have been tested outside the subcontinent much.
Kuldeep and Chahal took 22 and 21 wickets last year at averages of 24.77 and 28.57 respectively in 14 games each. Choosing between the two could be a hell of a task for the Indian management.
Identifying the right seamers
India's choice of pacers came under scathing criticism in the Tests and might have played a role in them not being able to grab crucial moments in the first two Tests. Inj the ODI series they will have four frontline fast bowlers to choose from, with the three in the Tests – Bhuvneshwar, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah – supported by Shardul Thakur, who returns in place of Siddharth Kaul.
Given that India have Hardik Pandya also for seam up options, it is unlikely that all four would play in the same XI, and that gives the edge to the three who are more familiar with the conditions here having featured in the Test series.
They are also the more experienced of the fast bowlers and bring different skill-sets to the table. However, with the World Cup in England next year, India would also need to work on widening their pool of players, and giving Thakur a few games should also be on their check list.
The middle-order conundrum
While young Shreyas Iyer impressed with back-to-back half-centuries against Sri Lanka in Mohali and Vishakhapatnam, India have a slew of options at their disposal in the middle-order. Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav and Iyer might be tussling for two spots in the middle-order. Rahane, who has batted in the middle-order previously, has been declared as the back-up opener and it was made clear by Kohli on a number of occasions that Rahane was not being looked at as a middle-order batsman.
Iyer and Karthik should ideally be the favourites to grab the two open spots but this is where it gets really tricky. With no part-time bowler in the whole squad - if you exclude Kohli's average dibbly-dobbly bowling and MS Dhoni's rare spells - other than Kedar Jadhav's slingy off-breaks, India will want the five bowlers they pick to complete their quota of 10 overs, which is, however, a huge ask for someone like Hardik Pandya who has completed his full quota of overs just nine times in 32 ODIs.
This alone puts Jadhav in line for a place in the starting XI. His batting capabilities also hold him in good stead. Iyer should ideally grab the No 4 slot ahead of Pandey and Karthik but will need to perform well to retain it for the whole length of the series. All in all, the selection conundrum is getting more acute and Kohli will once again be in the spotlight if he has a gamble up his sleeve.
Published Date:Jan 31, 2018
| Updated Date: Jan 31, 2018
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