India vs South Africa: Indian Team's Conundrum

Following Team India's defeat to South Africa in the first test in Capetown, their think-tank would have some difficulties in selecting the team prior the the second test, which is to be played in Centurion, starting on Saturday.

Team India's opening conundrum

Both the openers, Vijay and Dhawan produced stands of 16 and 30 in the first and the second innings respectively. Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket in both the innings while pulling a short ball, while Murali Vijay steered catches towards gully. Neither of them managed to leave their impression , against a top-quality bowling attack. The question that arises is, whether the right opening pair is picked or not?

Shikhar Dhawan was selected blindly on basis of his performance last year, but is he the correct choice in South Africa, against top-quality bowlers, who are capable of swinging the ball both the ways, and here is where a player of KL Rahul's solidity is required in the team. The same Rahul, of whom Shastri said, "he is the most improved player in the last 18 months".

India should consider picking KL Rahul above Shikhar Dhawan, simply for the fact that he is technically more sound than Dhawan and is very capable of scoring runs. Plus, Shikhar Dhawan has not been a consistent performer for India outside the sub-continent. He averages 27 in Australia, 53 in New Zealand, 20 in England and 18 in South Africa. At the Centurion, where the ball will be moving around, having a batsman who leaves well and is aware of where his off-stump lies, will be a big asset.

Ajinkya Rahane's Selection

It is not very often you see a team drop a player who has been one of the most successful batsmen in the team, especially overseas. Rohit Sharma was preferred in the 1st Test over Ajinkya Rahane, which left people quizzical. In a post match conference, the skipper Virat Kohli said that Rohit was considered over Rahane simply due to his form. It was a bold decision, which failed. 

Rahane has the temperament, technique and the experience to succeed in such conditions. He averages 53.44 outside India, without centuries in Wellington, Melbourne, London, Jamaica & Colombo (twice).

There have always been struggles with Rahane's selection for India. He has failed to produce starts in conditions where is ball is turning. Out of his 64 dismissals in Test Cricket, 35 have been against spin. For Capetown, he was assessed on his poor form, delivering just 17 runs in the 5 innings he played against Sri Lanka, just before flying for South Africa. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma delivered with scores of 102*, 65 and 50* on the same tour. In the span of a week, he hammered his third ODI double-ton, becoming the first player to do so, followed by a joint-fasted ton in Twenty20 Internationals, coming just off 35 balls. After such an outstanding performance, it certainly was difficult for the Indian think tank to leave out Rohit Sharma. 

Rohit has an average of 25 outside India, having scored just 4 fifties in 27 innings, made 11 & 10 runs in the defeat in Capetown. In order to keep the series alive, India need to go with batsman with a proven overseas record in tough conditions. 

Is spin required?

There is another way India can fit in Rahane. Given success the pace bowlers of both the teams in Capetown, it is the pacers who will be playing the major role in the series, which raises the question up: is it necessary to play a spinner? 

India played R Ashwin as the sole spinner in Capetown. Ashwin bowled a total of 8.1 overs in the whole match and picked up two wickets of the South-African tail-enders. With the bat, Ashwin made contributions of 12 and 37, the latter being the highest for the team on Day 4. Ashwin is a highly-capable batsman, who can score runs, but his role as a spinner in South Africa, is bound to be limited. 

With a pace-friendly pitch expected in Centurion, if India do not want to drop Rohit, they can make way for Rahane by excluding Ashwin from the team. Taking a specialist batsman is better then playing a spinner who does not have a major role to play. India played 4 seamers in Capetown with sparkling results, so it does make sense to play an extra batsman in the team, in order to add meat to the batting line up.


Well, expecting a bouncy pitch at Centurion, there is a good argument of playing Ishant as well, who is the most experience member of this squad, when it comes to playing overseas. Given his height and ability to extract bounce of the pitch, and also his current form against Sri Lanka, Ishant Sharma could be an inspired pick.

Cheers,
Sparsh

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