"Should have made a place for Suryakumar Yadav" - Sanjay Manjrekar calls for changes after 1st India vs South Africa ODI

Sanjay Manjrekar feels India played an innocuous middle order in the first ODI against South Africa in Paarl. He said the visitors "looked a little short on batting" and needed someone like Suryakumar Yadav to add more heft.

After being asked to bowl first, India conceded 296 runs on a slightly slow and dry pitch at Boland Park, which many experts found to be at least 40 runs too many.

In reply, they looked comfortable at 152-2 after 28 overs, but Virat Kohli's wicket ignited yet another middle-order collapse which stopped only at 214-8. The last-wicket partnership collected a few more, but the visitors ultimately lost the contest by 31 runs.

In an interaction with ESPNcricinfo after the match, Manjrekar opined on the same by saying:

"I've maintained that it (India's middle-order) looked a little short on batting when you have somebody like a Rishabh Pant batting at 5 and a Venky (Venkatesh) Iyer in a very unfamiliar role. You know, for a newcomer to bat down at No. 6 on a pitch that's going to be dry and getting slow further [was difficult]. There wasn't much of a threat down the order so I thought they should have made a place for somebody like Suryakumar Yadav... I guess a few little tweaks will have to be done to make sure that the middle looks a little more wholesome."

An exciting middle-order prospect, 31-year-old Yadav made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in July last year. He has since scored 124 runs in three one-dayers at an average of 64, including a half-century. But the talented right-hander lost his place to the more experienced Shreyas Iyer for the ongoing South Africa series.

Manjrekar also feels that India should have kept the Proteas down to a smaller total because the conditions were only going to get tougher for batting. He even remarked that KL Rahul and co. lost the match the moment they allowed the hosts to get past the 250-run mark. The former Indian batter added:

"Just far too many runs to chase, especially in a day game where the pitch wasn't going the get easier for the batters chasing and the ball wasn't going to get wet because of the dew... There was some hope at the start but somebody had to carry the bat through the innings. Shikhar Dhawan got out after being set, Virat Kohli as well. It was always going to be difficult... I think India lost the game when they allowed the opposition go beyond 250."

Shikhar Dhawan (79) and Kohli's (51) knocks were the only slender silver linings for Team India who suffered their fifth loss in the last 10 ODIs.

"Always been a huge fan of Shikhar Dhawan" - Sanjay Manjrekar

Manjrekar also lauded Dhawan's efforts, saying that he's always been a "huge fan" of the opener for his unique characteristic of peaking close to the last phase of his career. He added that Dhawan, playing his first international match since July 2021, "looked the part" against the South African bowlers.

Manjrekar asserted:

"I've always been a huge fan of Shikhar Dhawan... He's one of the very unique batters I've seen who's got better in the last three four years of his career and that's on the wrong side of 30... After a long gap, he came in and played superbly. I thought it was a fantastic innings. I loved the way he took on Marco Jansen, the spinners as well. He looked the part and that's been Shikhar Dhawan's story in white-ball cricket in the last two-three years. His IPL game has also changed considerably. Only when he's there fielding in the deep, you get the realization that this guy's not getting any younger but when you see him bat - brilliant."

India and South Africa will now clash in the second ODI on Friday, starting at 2:00 pm IST.