It will be a dilemma for Kohli to Pick Rohit Sharma or Hardik Pandya for the No 6 spot in South Africa
Dec 8, 2017 at 1:49 PM
After having a brilliant home series and an unbeaten record of nine Test matches, the real test for Virat Kohli and his men will begin when they tour South Africa next month. The men in blues will have to raise their game to overcome the Proteas challenge. The young Indian skipper Virat Kohli will have to compromise in hard and bouncy pitches to bring out the best of the team, and in doing so, he might have to leave star all-rounder Hardik Pandya who was exceptional in his debut series against Sri Lanka.
Virat always went with an all-rounder for the No. 6 slot in the Test team. Ravichandran Ashwin did the job in the subcontinent, but keeping the pace factor in South Africa, it is hard to work. However, former India selector Krishnamachary Srikkanth feels it will be a risk for the no six spot.
“Pandya is still new and is finding his feet in Test matches. Yes, he has played higher up the order in ODIs, but Test cricket is a different ball game. I don’t think it’s a great idea to push him to the No. 6 slot so early in a series like South Africa,” the former India selector said.
With South Africa gearing up with a full pace attack led by the veteran Dale Steyn, it will be likely that India goes into the first Test at Capetown with seven batsmen and four bowlers, which provides Rohit Sharma for the no 6 position after his brilliant performance in the last two Test against Sri Lanka.
However, Rohit had a poor stint the last time he visited South Africa in 2013. So, Srikkanth was sceptical about picking Rohit for the spot.
“We should remember that Rohit wasn’t at his best in South Africa. So a lot of variables need to be taken into account before taking a call on No. 6,” he further stated.