India played the first ODI against South Africa in Lucknow on October 6 losing a tightly fought contest by 9 runs.
A curious question was that Deepak Chahar, who bowled brilliantly in the T20I series against South Africa, missed out on the first ODI with Avesh Khan coming in. Well now it has been revealed that it was an injury that made him miss the match.
As per PTI reports, Deepak Chahar suffered from a twisted ankle and now is expected to miss the remainder of the two ODIs as well in Ranchi and Delhi.
''Deepak has sustained a twisted ankle but it's not too serious. However, a few days of rest might be advisable. So, it will be team management's call if they would like to risk Deepak as he is in T20 World Cup standby list. In any case, if there is a requirement there, it would be a priority,” a source told PTI.
The source also said that Mohammad Shami remains the frontrunner to replace Jasprit Bumrah in the main squad for the T20 World Cup 2022 and will leave for Australia in a few days’ time.
''Mohammed Shami, if fit, was always going to be the first replacement as that's the closest Indian team can get in terms of sheer quality. He will be joining sometime next week,'' the source added.
Meanwhile, two left-arm pacers in Mukesh Choudhary of Maharashtra and Chetan Sakariya of Saurashtra have already joined the squad in Australia as net bowlers for the T20 World Cup 2022.
It is understood that since most teams have a left-arm seamer in their ranks and India's Arshdeep Singh will need rest between the games, Mukesh and Chetan have accompanied the team for the Perth leg of the tour.
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The source stated: “Mukesh and Chetan flew in with the team yesterday. As of now, they will be with the team for the Perth leg where India are supposed to play a couple of practice games.''
India will rigorously train for three days in Perth for five hours between 11 am to 4 pm on October 8, 9, and 12, while on October 10 and 13, two T20 warm-up games will be held.
(PTI inputs)
