SA Team Selection: Virat’s ODI captaincy, Rahane’s test vice-captaincy up for discussion
Xtra Time Web Desk: The future of Virat Kohli’s ODI captaincy will be one of the key point of discussion as the selectors meet later this week to pick the squad for the tour to South Africa. Ajinkya Rahane’s future as test vice-captain in the longest format along will also be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.
Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma, Abey Kuruvilla and Sunil Joshi are in Mumbai to watch the second Test and sometime during this week, they will sit alongside president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to take a few decisions which might have far-reaching impact in the larger context of Indian cricket.
India are supposed to play three ODIs in South Africa and the biggest question now is whether the country needs two white ball captains which can potentially lead to clash of ideas.
With the selectors picking a jumbo squad, both Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane are likely to be boarding the Johannesburg flight as of now.
However, Rahane will find it very difficult to keep his position as Kohli’s Test deputy as he no longer is an automatic choice in the playing XI. Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari are some of the middle-order choices to replace Rahane in the eleven.
While Pujara will start in the first Test if fit, the selectors might want to look at some back-up No. 3 options in the long run. Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran who recently scored a hundred and a fifty batting at No. 3 and Panchal, who has also batted at one-drop at times, has a 96 and can be seen as a back-up.
This is unless, Mayank Agarwal (if his forearm injury is not serious) is seen as a potential No. 3 after his 150 and 62 in the second Test considering KL Rahul and Rohit are automatic first-choice openers after their stellar show in England.
Veteran fast bowlers Ishant Sharma will find it difficult to keep his place in the side until and unless the selectors think otherwise. Mohammed Siraj can’t be kept out in overseas conditions along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami when they are all fit. Umesh Yadav at the moment seems to be preferred over Ishant.
