India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Venkatesh Iyer ‘the all-rounder’ gets another chance- Allrounder Venkatesh Iyer has retained his place in Playing XI amid all talks regarding his place. The development means SuryaKumar Yadav will remain on the bench. Follow IND vs SA Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Venkatesh Iyer ‘the all-rounder’ gets another go in Playing XI- Follow LIVE Updates
2ND ODI. South Africa XI: Q de Kock (wk), J Malan, A Markram, R van der Dussen, T Bavuma (c), D Miller, A Phehlukwayo, K Maharaj, T Shamsi, S Magala, L Ngidi https://t.co/cHNYBVneZ8 #SAvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 21, 2022
The decision comes even as KL Rahul decided not to go with sixth bowling option even when strike bowlers failed to get wickets in 1st ODI against South Africa. Venkatesh Iyer, the bowler, remained unused. Iyer, the batsman failed.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
“I think it’s pretty straightforward, second game on the same strip and important to put runs on the board and guessing the wicket will get slower later on. In the middle overs we couldn’t get the partnerships going and that’s the learning from the last game, hopefully we can go out there today and show better performance. The batters themselves realized that’s where it went wrong, we will learn from it and we have spoken about it. We are playing the same team,” KL Rahul said at the Toss.
In the 2st ODI, Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen dominated Indian bowler with scores of 110 and 129 not out. But KL Rahul opted to continue with Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The two Proteas stitched together a record 204-run 4th wicket stand. But KL Rahul didn’t call in the ‘SIXTH’ bowling option he drooled on in the pre-match press conference. It raises two questions.
India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Venkatesh Iyer ‘the all-rounder’ gets another go in Playing XI- Follow LIVE Updates
1. Should India include an additional batsman to reinforce the middle-order if there is no plan to use Venkatesh Iyer the bowler?
2. What is the plan with Venkatesh Iyer?
That’s that from the 1st ODI.
South Africa win by 31 runs.
Scorecard – https://t.co/PJ4gV8SFQb #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/NrRNxZgMNK
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 19, 2022
Should Suryakumar Yadav had replaced Venkatesh? – Considering India had yet another batting collapse, an extra batsman will be crucial to prevent another, especially with the ODI series on the line.
Suryakumar Yadav was the go-to No 4 when Shreyas Iyer was recovering from a shoulder injury. He was picked in the T20 World Cup ahead of Iyer. Suryakumar also gives the team flexibility in the batting order. He can bat at No 3, 4, 5 and 6 depending on the situation. Hence, having him along with Shreyas Iyer will not be that bad, especially when there is no plan to use the sixth bowling option.
India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Venkatesh Iyer ‘the all-rounder’ gets another go in Playing XI- Follow LIVE Updates
Apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, none did well in the top-order while Shardul Thakur slammed his maiden ODI fifty but in vain. Surya having averaged 62.00 in his three ODIs, could be an asset to the team while Shardul Thakur can be used as an all-rounder.
What is the plan with Venkatesh Iyer? It raises the second question, what is the team’s plan with Venkatesh Iyer? To remind the readers, Venkatesh Iyer’s career was fast-tracked to use him as a seam-bowling all-rounder. So far, the new team management has shown different priorities.
Neither Rohit Sharma nor KL Rahul has shown faith in his bowling abilities. In the three T20Is Venkatesh Iyer played, he bowled just three overs but got a wicket in exchange for 4.0 economy. That’s a decent stat. Even KL Rahul elaborated his importance of being the sixth bowling option. But in the post-match press conference, Shikhar Dhawan said the team did not need him to bowl. If the team doesn’t need him to bowl when others were getting hammered, then when is the right time?
India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Captain shows ‘NO-FAITH’ on Venkatesh Iyer the all-rounder, will SuryaKumar Yadav replace him in XI? Follow LIVE Updates
“We didn’t need him because the spinners did well and there was some turn in the wicket. Fast bowlers were mostly used at the end. In the middle-overs when the wicket was not falling, our thinking was to bring back the main bowlers to get the breakthrough but we couldn’t do that. Then, in the end, it was important to bring our main bowlers, like our spinners,” said Shikhar Dhawan in the post-match press conference.
The 2nd ODI will take place at the Boland Park in Paarl again and with the assistance for spinners, it is unlikely that India will rely on a fourth seamer option. Jayant Yadav is the other spin-all-rounder in the team and can be the other big bet. The other option is to go with Ishan Kishan at No 6.
During Virat Kohli’s captaincy tenure, he spoke about using Ishan Kishan as a finisher in Hardik Pandya’s place in T20s. If the new team management considers the same plan, Ishan Kishan could be an option. As for the others, the playing XI will remain unchanged.
India Playing XI 2nd ODI: Venkatesh Iyer ‘the all-rounder’ gets another go in Playing XI- Follow LIVE Updates
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