"Going to Shreyas Iyer was a great idea" - Sanjay Manjrekar praises KL Rahul's captaincy in 3rd India vs South Africa ODI

Sanjay Manjrekar was pleased with KL Rahul's leadership in the first innings of the third India-South Africa ODI in Cape Town. After opting to bowl first, India kept the hosts down to 287, taking all 10 wickets for the first time in the series.

Manjrekar hailed Rahul for turning to part-timer Shreyas Iyer to bowl when the hosts were cruising. Although Iyer conceded 21 runs in his three wicketless overs, Manjrekar saw it as a sign of Rahul being more open to new ideas, especially after his much-criticised use of Venkatesh Iyer in the first match.

During the mid-innings break, Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo:

"Slightly different captaincy from KL Rahul. Going to Shreyas Iyer was a great idea. Eventually how it panned out was another matter but at least he was looking at going into areas he wasn't looking to go [earlier]. This is a guy who didn't go to an obvious sixth bowling option in Venky Iyer in the first One-Day but this time he was able to go the Shreyas Iyer and see what he's got. In the end he bowled three overs which allowed him to not bowl (Deepak) Chahar too much towards the end."

The former cricketer also shed light on the big picture of the sixth-bowler conundrum. Manjrekar said that unlike the Indian teams of the past, none of the top-order batters from the current crop can chip in with some overs, even on dry wickets.

Manjrekar explained:

"It was nice that that idea was thought of. Maybe Rahul Dravid had something to do with it. But what's interesting about this Indian outfit is the batters they have in the team, and I am not just talking about this squad. In the last one to two years, none of them chip in with three to four overs of bowling, especially on dry pitches like we had in the first two ODIs... That's got to be the quest for India with the 50-overs team - if they can't find the obvious sixth bowling option, if you can't find wicket-takers in the middle then ensure that you've got pure batters who walk into the team on that one discipline can [also] chip in with some bowling."

For a long time, Hardik Pandya was seen as India's solution to the sixth bowler issue - a sure-shot batter who can bowl at least five tight overs when needed. His fitness issues ripped open the doubts again, prompting the selectors to turn to Venkatesh Iyer. The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder, who did not bowl in the first ODI, managed five overs (0/28) in the second before being left out of the third match.

"India picked a terrible team in the first couple of ODIs" - Sanjay Manjrekar

When asked to comment on the better 'energy' shown by the players in Centurion, Manjrekar said he wasn't a big fan of the word.

He instead attributed India's improvement to better team selection, remarking that the first two ODIs saw 'terrible' playing 11s. Manjrekar added:

"I am not a big supporter of this energy thing. Poor KL Rahul also had to clear his position, saying that there's a lot of energy in the team and stuff like that. These are nice words that the team is not doing well that 'there wasn't much energy in the field.' ... But I guess what is really important for teams to win matches is to first pick the right playing 11. I thought India picked a terrible team in the first couple of ODIs. A slightly better bowling attack [played today] and we saw the impact immediately."

India lost the first wicket early (18-1) in the third ODI but Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli managed to avoid further damage in the powerplay.

You can catch the live proceedings here.