With Test match taking place between Indians and Proteas, the confusion as to who will play and who will not crops up again. In all likelihood, the Karnataka opener KL Rahul will be opening for the Indian cricket team in the upcoming Test match. He will be replacing Shikhar Dhawan for the match against South Africa.
Also, the team management is likely to take some serious decision on Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay for not performing well in the matches. Recently the selection of Jasprit Bumrah in lieu of the the veteran Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav created news and stir. However, Jasprit Bumrah did prove his mettle in the game and put an end to all the talks that were transpiring around his selection.
Rohit Sharma, too, can get a chance to play in the next match. Benching Ajinkya Rahane also came as a surprise. The exclusion of Ishant Sharma who could have worked wonders raised eyebrows.
It will be confirmed after the decision made by Indian skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri in Centurion on Thursday as to who will get an opportunity to play in the second test. Rahul might replace Shikhar Dhawan instead of Murali Vijay owing to the latter’s experience.
The team will probably continue with Rohit Sharma in place of Ajinkya Rahane considering his performance and form he displayed in the home series against Sri Lanka. The inclusion of Rohit Sharma would be appropriate for the team. The message would be too wrong for everyone if he is not included in the match, given his past record. His strike rate has been between 95 and 100. Moreover, he scored an unbeaten century and two half-centuries in 2017 in the only two matches he played.
Ajinkya deserves a place in the team but he would get a place only if R Ashwin is dropped out which is very unlikely in the next match.
