India’s squad for last 2 ODIs:
MSD, Rohit, Dhawan, Rahane, Virat, Raina, Axar, Bhajji, Mishra, Mohit, Bhuvi, Arvind, Binny, Rayudu, Mann
India’s squad for first 2 Test matches:
Kohli, Vijay, Dhawan, Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh, Rahul, Binny, Aaron, Ishant.
Indian team announced for remaining two ODIs and first two Test matches
BCCI Selection committee announced the Indian teams for the remaining two ODIs and for four-match Test series at Mumbai. They made only change in the team and ruled out injured R Ashwin from the squad. India suffered yet another defeat at the hand of South Africa in the third match of five match ODI series at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. India levelled the series in Indore after losing the first ODI at Kanpur. But the batting has been plagued with inconsistency. None of the Indian batsmen produce consistent performance in this series except Rohit Sharma.
There is too much confusion regarding the no. 3 and no. 4 position, And nothing has been happening as per captain Dhoni’s plan. Opener Shikhar Dhawan almost in every innings has been throwing his wicket after getting a sound start while Virat Kohli, who scored a half-century after 13 innings of run dry, was too slow while leading India’s chase.
Ajinkya Rahne, with whom too much experiment has happened, has nevertheless cemented his position in Test team. After winning the Indore ODI captain, MS Dhoni at the press conference said Rahane should bat at no. 3 and Kohli at no. 4. But, in the very next ODI at Rajkot Kohli reverted to his no. 3 position while Rahane shifted to no. 6 as Dhoni promoted himself at no. 4.
India’ s bowling department looked shaky too. Spinner Axar Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra did a good job in the last ODI, but pacers were too generous in leaking runs. Bhuvnesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, and Umesh Yadav proved expensive in the last three ODIs. Though Bhuvneshwar Kumar did a reasonably good job in the Indore ODI. But, a bowling spearhead like Mohammad Shami, who is also recovering from the knee injury has really been missing in the ODI squad. Sreenatch Aravind is the only bowler included in the team in place of Umesh Yadav.
Talking about the Test team, except the opening slot, Indian team looked composed for the first two Test matches of the four-match Test series against South Africa starting on November 5. But, no change made in the Test team. Shikhar Dhawan, who is not in good form after suffering the hand injury in the first match of Sri Lanka series was dropped from the team and replaced by KL Rahul. Another batsman Chetshwar Pujara was outstanding in the final Test carried the bat in the first innings of India’s victory in the final Test at Colombo has also been kept in the team. Bowling department with Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra have done well in Sri Lanka series victory and Umesh Yadav was also in good shape in Sri Lanka. The only concern for captain Virat Kohli is R Ashwin’s injury, who is also included in the team along with Ravindra Jadeja.