The India vs South Africa (IND vs SA) series is of utmost importance to the India Cricket Team. But that doesn’t mean that the BCCI will field the best XI for all the matches in this long & tiring series. Workload management is one of the key factors at play. The pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj & Mohammed Shami has been given break T20Is and ODIs.
Only Mohammed Siraj has been selected in the T20I squad while Jasprit Bumrah will be the vice captain of the India team in the Test series. Mohamed Shami has been selected only in the Test squad but there remains a catch. Mr Mohd. Shami is currently undergoing medical treatment and his availability is subject to fitness – read BCCI’s statement when the India squad for South Africa series was announced.
The trio of Bumrah-Shami-Siraj has been exceptional for the Men in Blue in the recently concluded ODI World Cup. Shami finished the World Cup as the highest wicket-taker. However, three seniors were given a break from the IND vs AUS T20I series.
With the focus now shifting to the India Tour of South Africa, a lot of dynamics are at play. The BCCI is keen not to overwork the players and workload management comes into play. It is a relatively new bowling set for India in ODIs with the pace trio only available in red-ball cricket.
But why in the 2 Test matches? The answer is simple, India has no concerns with ODIs (ODI World Cup over), and T20Is (new team, youngsters and experimentation). But no experiments can be done in Red ball cricket as India is keen to field their strongest XI. With World Test Championship points at stake, India will go out with all guns blazing in the 2-Test matches against the Proteas.
India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.
India’s squad for 3 T20Is: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.
India’s squad for 2 Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
