KL Rahul will captain the India cricket team for the ODI series against South Africa starting on January 19 after Rohit Sharma missed the tour due to injury.
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A new era is all set to begin for the Indian cricket team on January 19. After the disappointment of the Test series loss, India will now begin the final leg of the South Africa tour with three ODIs. Rohit Sharma is the full-time captain of the ODI and T20I set-up for India. But, his injury has forced him to miss the tour entirely. In his absence, KL Rahul will captain the ODI side. Rahul did captain the Johannesburg Test when Virat Kohli was laid low due to a back spasm.
The last time India played an ODI series in South Africa, they enjoyed tremendous success. They won the six-match ODI series 5-1 and the Twenty20 International series 2-1. However, similar to 2018, India had lost the Test series 2-1. India is still recovering from the shock of Virat Kohli relinquishing the Test captaincy after the loss in Cape Town. For the first time since 2012, Virat Kohli will not be captain either of the national side or the IPL. There is hope that Kohli will be back to his old self now that he has been freed from the captaincy shackles.
KL Rahul has said that his job is to carry forward the right things that Kohli has instilled in the team. “He has done a lot of things right and set a standard for all of us and team India. As a team, and for me, it’s all about building on that. We obviously know what it takes to be a champion team. We’ve got to keep improving and stay as disciplined and as determined as that, and go out and enjoy our cricket. Virat had this amazing ability to get the best out of everybody. He pushed everybody and made us believe that we could do special things,” Rahul said in the pre-match press conference.
Read – KL Rahul drafted in Lucknow side for IPL 2022
The batting department will have some slight changes for the series. With Rohit not there, Rahul will open the batting. But, apart from that, there is a big debate on the other positions. India is probably looking at life after Hardik Pandya and that is why Venkatesh Iyer might play the match. Rahul’s team will need a batting all-rounder and Iyer is being slated for that role.
There is Ruturaj Gaikwad in the squad but whether he can comeback to the team is a different thing altogether. Dhawan and Rahul have experience. But, Ruturaj was in fine form. With Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer in the ranks, getting Ruturaj to partner with Dhawan might not be a bad idea.
Mohammed Siraj has been passed fit to play the ODIs after suffering a hamstring injury in Johannesburg. This forced him to miss the Cape Town Test and India suffered. India believes that the pitch in Paarl might be slow and they will have two spinners in R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. For Ashwin, it will be a comeback after five years in the setup.
Jasprit Bumrah will be the gun pacer. But, whether they will include Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Deepak Chahar to partner Bumrah is a different thing. Chahar was impressive in the series against Sri Lanka and he could contribute with the bat. There is also Shardul Thakur who might step in as the batting all-rounder. But, will India repeat the mistakes of two bowling all-rounders is a different thing altogether.
KL Rahul (captain), Shikhar Dhawan/Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
