Image Credit- PTI
As part of their preparations for the two-Test series
against South Africa, India will send up to 45 players to South Africa in
December for a tour that would include eight internationals, two four-day
matches between India A and South Africa A, and a three-day match between India
and India A. Additionally, they have resumed not doing press conferences to
provide supporters with updates on the team’s progress. As a result, we are
left to try to understand the choices without the decision-makers’ input.
With just 11 matches remaining before the T20 World
Cup in June, all eyes are really on the path the T20I team will pursue. By
“resting” Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for T20Is, the selectors
evaded the most contentious issue from the 2022 T20 World Cup until now,
allowing them to concentrate on the other two forms. KL Rahul fit into the same
category, but to a lesser level.
But the two mainstays of Indian batting have postponed
this call until another day by requesting to be rested. The selection committee
may have, however, been sending KL Rahul a clear message by not picking him for
the T20I leg of the South Africa tour: your methods are not acceptable in this
modern top order, and if you wish to bat in the middle order, you may need to
demonstrate your willingness to do so with the correct intentions.
That being said, don’t rule out the possibility of
one, two, or all three of them being included in the T20 World Cup team.
Under ideal circumstances, India would have been
testing whether Jitesh Sharma, the explosive wicketkeeper-batter in the IPL and
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, was ready for the big time during the home series
against Australia. However, on the bouncer tracks in Australia, Rahul Dravid
and Suryakumar Yadav can give him a try against a South Africa XI that is
presumably first choice. Rinku Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who have emerged as
the front-runners for the first XI, will also be put to the test.
India will probably find it difficult to field all
three of the following in an XI: a swing bowler, such as Rinku, a hit-the-deck
bowler, and a designated finisher. Put it down to the absence of
multi-dimensional players. Currently, if India chooses to bat No. 7 with
Ravindra Jadeja, they will have to forego Rinku; if they play Rinku as a
finisher and Jadeja at No. 8, they will have to sacrifice one type of a seamer.
As a dedicated wicketkeeper, Rahul has only ever
started one first-class match. Nevertheless, he is listed as a wicketkeeper in
Tests in the press release that announces the squads. In Test cricket, you
wouldn’t expect him to keep and then go straight out to open, particularly
because he isn’t at all accustomed to performing the former. If Rahul can
establish himself in a middle-order position, where he may face competition
from either Shreyas Iyer, who is a specialist hitter, or Ishan Kishan, who
plays wicketkeeper, this may be a sort of comeback for Rahul.
You worried for Jasprit Bumrah’s Test career when he
was told he had a back stress reaction that required surgery. However, fast
bowling fans will be happy to hear that he made the squad for the Tests because
he is simply too talented of a bowler to be lost to Test cricket. The medical
staff must be certain that Bumrah is prepared to handle the demands of a Test
match once more, right?
Additionally, once it appeared that height was the
difference between the two attacks, India has made it a point to include a
tall, hit-the-deck fast bowler in the Test squad. Prasidh Krishna may be the third Indian
player to take advantage of the dents that South African pitches tend to
acquire as the Tests progress.