India surrendered the three-match ODI series to South Africa after they lost the second ODI by seven wickets. This means KL Rahul and his men will now play the dead rubber in Cape Town with only pride left at stake. Indian spinners R. Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal were disappointing yet again as South Africa ran away with the game without any resistance. Not only the spinners, but even the pace department also turned out to be duds. Meanwhile former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes Ashwin is suddenly back into India’s ODI plans for ‘no reason.’
“See Ashwin, I have been maintaining right from the start of the series that he has sneaked back into India’s white-ball plans for no reason. It is not that he has made a strong claim for a comeback, but somehow the thinking has changed and he has come back into the plans. Hopefully, now, India will realize that he is not an impact spinner that India needs,” said Sanjay Manjrekar on ESPNCricinfo.
He added that India needs to go back to the time when they were picking up wickets at regular intervals even in middle overs. He said that time is right to give Kuldeep Yadav another chance in the blue-colored jersey with the 2023 World Cup approaching.
“India need to go back to those times where they used to get wickets in the middle overs. So this spin attack that India has is not their best and Ashwin has a long-standing track record of that but Chahal who has been a successful Indian white-ball spinner but you see that his powers may be waning. This spin attack is not the ideal one for India on a long-term basis. It is time for India to go back to Kuldeep Yadav and he has the record of running through sides. Kuldeep will come back into reckoning,” concluded Manjrekar.
The final ODI between South Africa and India will be played on 23rd January 2022.
