The spotlight, like most times, will be on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, but the pressure will also be on India’s younger crop when the home side looks to avoid another embarrassing series loss to South Africa in the must-win third and final ODI here on Saturday. A Raipur-like fumbling by India will see South Africa bag the ODI series too, closely after their 2-0 triumph in Tests.
Consecutive series defeats are unthinkable for India in the current scenario, particularly when the dressing room is perceived to be pulling in different directions. A victory in this rubber can quell the chatter around the team for a while, and for that, Kohli and Rohit have to do the heavy lifting once again. Both have been the undisputed masters of the 50-over format and are no strangers to such tight situations.
After all, their legacy is built around taking down difficulties — an exhilarating ride in itself in the last decade and a half. Now, standing at the door that opens only to the sunset, Kohli and Rohit will want another glorious chapter to be added to the long book of achievements. It’s not a mere ambition either. Kohli has two hundreds and a fifty in his last three innings, while Rohit has a hundred and two fifties in his last four outings.
Those numbers tell about their touch, class and hunger even in their late 30s, indicating that they can still save the day for the team. But they would not complain about some meaningful support from the younger batters as it came forth in the last match through Ruturaj Gaikwad, who struck his maiden ODI hundred. But Yashasvi Jaiswal is still to find his range in this series as an opener, and the gifted young man will be keen to convert his starts into a bigger score, for his and the team’s sake.
There is an obvious flaw in his batting against left-arm quicks, be it Jayden Seales of the West Indies or Marco Jansen and Nandre Burger in this series. He has been dismissed by left-armers 30 times (9 in Tests, 19 in T20Is and 2 in ODIs) in his career, predominantly while attempting a cut and its many versions, his staple diet outside the off-stump. Jaiswal and the team management cannot remain oblivious to something so obvious, and the work might have already begun to rectify it.
But if the trend continues, the management might just be forced to look at other options, and they have a genuine opener in Gaikwad in their ranks. Tilak for Washington? Pitch and dew The pitch at the ACA-VDCA stadium often tends to favour the batters, and India have a wonderful record here — seven wins in 10 ODIs from 2005, even though the last encounter against Australia ended in a defeat.
But that aside, India will think deeply about whether to rest Washington Sundar and bring in Tilak Varma to beef up the middle-order batting line-up, which struggled to force the pace in the business end of the last two matches.
Rishabh Pant too can be a candidate, but Tilak is a utility spinner and also adds value as a gun fielder. KL Rahul’s breezy fifties carried India to a par score, but dew helped South Africa come close to the target in Ranchi and go over the line in Raipur.
But in this coastal town, the humidity factor comes into play at night despite a recent dip in temperature, thanks to cyclonic weather. A training session under lights on Friday will help India understand the conditions and thereby decide the combination a bit better. Irrespective of that, India will hope that their young pacers Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana will tidy up their act and strongly support the impressive Arshdeep Singh.
SA’s worries
On the other hand, South Africa will want to inflict on India their second ODI series defeat after 2022-23, when the Aussies went back as a 2-1 winner. If so, it will be the Proteas’ first-ever ODI series victory on these shores. But they will be monitoring the fitness of pacer Burger and batter Tony de Zorzi, as both had to limp off the field at Raipur.
Teams (from):
India: KL Rahul (C/WK), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (C), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen. (PTI)
