India’s elegant batter was named the country’s stand-in ODI captain for the tour of South Africa on December 31. With newly-appointed white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma still under rehab for a hamstring injury, his deputy Rahul will take over the side for three-match series versus the Proteas.
In a year-end press conference, chief selector Chetan Sharma confirmed the news on Rahul, who was also named the Test match deputy to Virat Kohli in Rohit’s absence for the series in South Africa. Sharma appointed spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as Rahul’s deputy for the ODI leg of the tour, starting January 19.
Sharma said they are looking to groom Rahul as captain in larger futuristic scheme of things after an impressive year where he revived his Test career as an opener and continued to perform solidly in ODIs and T20Is.
“Yes, definitely (looking at grooming KL Rahul). We are looking at KL Rahul at the moment. He is an all-format player and he got a good experience of captaincy. He has proved his leadership quality, this is what all selectors think.
And like Rohit is not fit, we thought KL will be the best one to handle the side. That’s why we have shown confidence in him. We are grooming the side,”
Sharma said, also explaining that Bumrah’s appointment as Rahul’s deputy is with the thought of creating more leaders within the group.
With Rohit missing the entire tour of South Africa, questions marks are being raised on Sharma and his selection panel’s decision to appoint the experienced opener as the white-ball skipper when his fitness and injury is an issue. But Chetan came in support of Rohit, stating no one gets injured on purpose.
“In cricket, injury can happen to anyone. Everybody wants to play, no one gets injured on purpose. This is our vision, we didn’t want to pick him for this series to allow him get 100 per cent fit. There is a World Cup and a very important series coming up. That’s the reason he is not going to South Africa. All the selectors had a good chat with Rohit,”
he said.
The 18-member squad picked for the series has seen the selectors retain their trust in veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan. Despite him boasting of an average of 52.08 with a strike-rate of 92.04 since returning injured from the 2019 World Cup, there were calls from certain sections for India to move past him, keeping in mind his age and dip in form during the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi. But Sharma and co kept Dhawan’s great contributions in mind and retained him in their plans.
In Rohit’s absence, selectors have also named young Ruturaj Gaikwad as opener in the side. Gaikwad made his T20I debut in Sri Lanka and has now been named in the ODI squad.
After a fantastic IPL 2021 for Chennai Super Kings, the 24-year-old Maharashtra right-hand bat dominated the VJHT and made 603 runs from his five outings at a strike-rate of 112.92.
Gaikwad pipped Prithvi Shaw in the back-up opener’s race despite Shaw also emerging as a strong candidate in a more aggressive mould. Gaikwad is likely to start at the top with Dhawan unless Rahul decides to move up from the No.5 spot, which he has owned as the wicketkeeper-batter since the start of 2020.
Sharma’s panel has also handed a comeback to Ravichandran Ashwin in the ODI outfit after more than four years. He is part of the spin department also featuring Yuzvendra Chahal and another comeback man Washington Sundar.
Sundar is expected to double up as the allrounder in the absence of injured Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. If the team management decides to go in with six bowling options, Sundar and Venkatesh Iyer are expected to do the important job at No.6 & No.7. Iyer has been handed his maiden ODI call-up with Hardik Pandya taking a break to resolve his back issues.
On the fast-bowling front, the selectors have opted to rest Mohammed Shami for the ODI leg of the tour considering workload management. Sharma indicated that Bumrah might also be rested in a similar vein for the following limited-overs series against the West Indies.
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur are part of the pace attack for the tour, for which Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan and the great Virat Kohli act as India’s middle-order options.
Sharma confirmed that names of Ravi Bishnoi, Rishi Dhawan, Shahrukh Khan, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan were also discussed, and their strong domestic performances will be rewarded in the near future.
