India's selection dilemma in Test cricket for the South Africa series

India will have to sort a few issues before the SA series

With the win over Sri Lanka in the test series, India has won an away Test series after four years. In between the two series wins, India has faced the ignominy of whitewashes at the hands of England and Australia and were also overwhelmed by New Zealand and South Africa in their backyards.

The series with Sri Lanka brought many positives for India. It assured the fans that the new captain can take the team forward with his positive approach, it also made sure that India’s spin department has at least two quality spinners who can dismantle the opposition when the conditions favour them; also the batsmen assured that they can hold their own even under challenging circumstances.

But the series win also brings some selection dilemmas for the Indians, which they’ll have to deal with before the South African series.

Is Stuart Binny the right all-rounder for India?

After India lost the first Test Stuart Binny was flown in to provide the balance in the team. He played the next two matches and his statistics suggests that neither was he disappointing nor was he extremely impressive. In the four innings, he scored 76 runs at an average of 19.00 and picked up three wickets at an average of 39.00. He did bowl some useful spells which also kept the main bowlers fresh and raring to go.

But the question is whether Binny will be good enough against a better side like South Africa. His batting will surely be tested much more by the pace and swing of Dale Steyn, the bounce of Morne Morkel and the accuracy of Vernon Philander. Will he be able to bowl economical & threatening spells against the likes of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis?

If Stuart Binny plays at number six or seven then he has to score more runs than he has done till now in his career. His bowling may be decent enough for a fifth bowler but if his batting keeps on failing, he will be more a liability than an asset for the team.

Who will play at the number three spot for India?

Even before the start of the Sri Lanka series, India were facing a conundrum regarding the number three Test spot. The quandary has only increased now that the three Tests have finished. Rohit Sharma played at the number three spot in the first Test and failed to capitalize on his chance. In the subsequent two Tests, he played at number five with Ajinkya Rahane shouldering the responsibility of the number three spot. Rahane failed in three innings but scored a crucial century on one occasion.

Cheteshwar Pujara, the player who has played the majority of his career at the number three position, played the last Test as an opener and managed arguably the best innings by an Indian on the Sri-Lankan tour. He has made a strong claim to regain his spot in the team with that superb innings.

India also has the option of playing KL Rahul at number three though he is an opener by trade. The Indian team will surely have a strong headache before the first Test against the Proteas to select the apt player for the number three spot in the team.

Can India play with only four bowlers?

Out of the 60 wickets picked up by India in the Sri Lankan series, only four wickets were picked by the fifth bowler(three wickets by Stuart Binny and one by Harbhajan Singh).So it is quite clear that the fifth bowler is not picking up enough wickets for the team. Though the argument behind playing the fifth bowler is that it provides the main bowlers some breathing space, four wickets in a series is well below par.

With the better bowling quality of South Africa, India will have a thought of playing only four bowlers and let Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma do the job of the fifth bowler. Playing seven batsmen would also ensure there is no undue pressure on the top order to perform and the four bowlers are anyway picking up 20 wickets in the match.

The other option, of course, would be to bring in Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the fifth bowler – his lack of batting prowess does not look too unflattering when compared to Binny’s run with the bat in international cricket; and he can assuredly fetch more wickets.

With South Africa being the best travelers in the world, India will face a stiff competition from the Proteas. India will be in good stead if they find the solutions to their selection dilemmas before the beginning of the series.