India squad for SA: Hanuma Vihari or Shreyas Iyer? After a century and a half-century on Test debut, Shreyas Iyer has given the selectors, coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Virat Kohli a selection headache. With his performance, he can manage to keep Hanuma Vihari out of the squad. But India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik believes Vihari should be preferred over Iyer as the Hyderabad captain has proved his worth time and again. Follow India Tour of South Africa Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
“This whole group of KL Rahul, Rohit and Mayank Agarwal will be the three openers, followed by Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajnkya Rahane and Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill will be the batters. Don’t know what will happen to Hanuma Vihari. Ideally, he should have been part of the squad, but sad that he had to go and play for India A,” Dinesh Karthik said on a Cricbuzz show.
India squad for SA: Dinesh Karthik backs Hanuma Vihari over Shreyas Iyer for South Africa tour, says ‘Iyer hasn’t done enough’
India squad for SA: Dinesh Karthik backs Hanuma Vihari over Shreyas Iyer for South Africa tour, says ‘Iyer hasn’t done enough’
India squad for SA: Four contenders for middle-order
| Batsmen | Matches | Inns | Runs | AVG | HS | 50/100 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 79 | 134 | 4795 | 39.3 | 188 | 24/12 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 92 | 156 | 6589 | 44.82 | 206* | 31/18 |
| Hanuma Vihari | 12 | 21 | 624 | 32.84 | 111 | 4/1 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 2 | 4 | 202 | 50.5 | 103 | 1/1 |
Hanuma Vihari was an unutilised batsman on England tour and played only one warm-up match. He was ignored for the New Zealand series. He then became a late entrant to India A squad in South Africa. After scoring just 25 in the first four-day game, he returned with 54 and 72 in the 2nd match. But with Shreyas Iyer also fighting for a spot in India’s Playing XI, Hanuma Vihari’s place has been in jeopardy.
“Are they going to fit him in when he comes back to the squad? Because everyone here has done enough to hold on to their places. Even the ones getting 30s and 40s, which cannot be undervalued, have looked set on tough wickets. Kanpur and Mumbai were not easy wickets. They applied themselves and played good shots. So where does a Vihari fit in that’s an important question. Has Iyer done enough to come and take over Vihari’s place,” Dinesh Karthik said.
India squad for SA: Dinesh Karthik backs Hanuma Vihari over Shreyas Iyer for South Africa tour, says ‘Iyer hasn’t done enough’
With Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara struggling to anchor India’s innings in the middle-order, selectors have thrown in newcomers Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer in the mix. After Iyer’s debut, Suryakumar Yadav is also waiting in the line to make his Test debut and if Pujara and Rahane fail once again, the axe is likely to fall on them in South Africa.
Skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid will be forced to make a choice between Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer as the former is expected to be named in the squad for the series. There is also Shubman Gill who is in team management’s plans to have a new role in the middle-order.
However, Dinesh Karthik believes Rahul Dravid will go with tried and tested batters in South Africa. That means, both Pujara and Rahane will keep their places.
India squad for SA: Dinesh Karthik backs Hanuma Vihari over Shreyas Iyer for South Africa tour, says ‘Iyer hasn’t done enough’
“Another man there who is hanging on by the skin of the teeth – Rahane. He is the vice-captain and has done phenomenally well as a captain. Where does he go? But knowing Rahul Dravid, he will go with the tried and tested method of going with Pujara and Rahane to start with and then when things unfold he will unravel another and makes changes necessary. All these guys will be on the plane to South Africa and will be in the XI as well. Don’t see too many changes as well, maybe one odd change,” Dinesh Karthik said.
As for the series, Dinesh Karthik predicted India will win pretty comfortably in South Africa.
‘India can emulate Australia success in South Africa’ @Sdoull & @DineshKarthik discuss 3-match Test series between India and South Africa on #CricbuzzChatter#Kohli #SAvIND #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/fg8MNRtDch
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) December 7, 2021
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