It was a forgetful tour for Team India against South Africa, as they lost both the Test and ODI series against the hosts. The KL Rahul-led Team India wasn’t much successful throughout the ODIs but had a fair chance to finish the series with a win in Cape Town; however, the Indian team fell short of 4 runs to concede a clean sweep.
Deepak Chahar displayed an all-round performance in the final ODI, as he successfully picked 2 wickets and played a crucial knock of 54 runs in just 34 deliveries to being the Indian team back in the game.
Shardul Thakur also displayed unbelievable form with ball as well as with the bat, scoring unbeaten 50 and 40 during the 1st two ODIs at Paarl.
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Talking about the duo’s performance, former Indian cricketer, Zaheer Khan suggested that the Indian team management should find a way of playing both Chahar and Shardul in the same XI.
“Whenever he (Deepak Chahar) got the opportunity, he has performed. He batted with brilliant strike rate as well (in the final ODI). There was a time during his innings when we needed run-a-ball, the way he ran doubles at a consistent rate deserves appreciation. He played according to the situation in the game. He had planned his innings. And we've seen this before as well,” said Zaheer on Cricbuzz.
“It's a big positive. It's not as if he has done this only once. He has done it again. Even if we talk about Shardul, he deserves appreciation as well. Shardul has also batted efficiently.”
Zaheer said that India should try and accommodate both players in the X, even when Jadeja returns to the XI.
“There could also be an option of both playing together. If it happens, it will be an added advantage because right now, we're looking at sixth bowling option. When Ravindra Jadeja returns, can he bat at number 6?
Considering that, if we play both together, it will benefit India and we can go forward-thinking about this. In future when we play many big series, I think you can play both together in the playing XI and think about using them both because both have played efficiently,” said Zaheer.
