India vs South Africa 2020: India’s predicted squad for the ODI series

Indian captain Virat Kohli was not overly bothered after losing the ODI series against New Zealand recently as he insisted that 50-over cricket is irrelevant in 2020, with the T20 World Cup set to take place later in the year. But the 3-0 whitewash that the Men in Blue suffered against the Kiwis might lead to some changes in the Indian squad for the upcoming ODI home series against South Africa.

There hasn’t been an official word on the fitness of Rohit Sharma yet. If he is not fit, Shikhar Dhawan will be the like-for-like replacement for Rohit at the top of the order for India. The left-handed opener missed the New Zealand tour due to shoulder injury.

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Hardik Pandya recently made his competitive comeback in the DY Patil T20 tournament and looked decent with the bat, in addition to going full throttle with the ball too as he generated decent speeds. It remains to be seen if the national selectors want to throw the all-rounder into action straightaway or want him to spend a bit more time in the domestic circuit.

So good to be back out there on the field where I belong 😊 Your support keeps me going 🙏 pic.twitter.com/5UBjJ7HbW0

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) March 2, 2020

Pandya, if he is picked, is likely to replace Shivam Dube, who hasn’t got too many opportunities to play ODI cricket despite being with the Indian ODI squad for quite some time.

Shardul Thakur was extremely expensive in the ODIs against New Zealand as he became the first Indian bowler ever to concede 80 or more runs twice in a three-match ODI series.

However, Shardul had a decent T20I series before that, and since the Indian selectors tend to take T20I performances into account as well, while picking a 50-over squad, Shardul might be able to retain his spot.

Another player whose name is under the microscope is Kedar Jadhav. While Jadhav has done well in the limited opportunities that he has got recently, people are just not convinced that he is young and fit enough to go on and play a role for India in the next ODI World Cup.

With Suryakumar Yadav being in good form in the domestic circuit, the selectors might want to consider him over Jadhav.

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Mohammed Shami got injured towards the end of the New Zealand tour and was not available to bowl in the second innings of the second Test match. While it’s not believed to be a serious injury, Shami might be rested for the South Africa series, given how much of cricket he has to play in the latter parts of the year.

Here is India’s predicted squad for the ODI series against South Africa –

Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur