Team India had a forgetful tour in South Africa as they lost both the Test as well as ODI series against the hosts.
After losing their Test series 1-2, the Indians were clean swept by South Africa in the 3-match ODI series. The Indian team garnered a lot of criticism from fans and fraternity post their South Africa tour. Most of the Indian players seemed to be out of form during the ODI series.
Analyzing the series defeat, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar criticized Team India for their squad selection.
“India wasn't great in picking their team. A lot of tried, tested and failed players were picked, some of them have passed their prime, which was evident in the (ODI) series," Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPNcricinfo.
Manjrekar said that India needs to find a couple of solid middle-order batters and look for new bowling options. He mentioned that Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance showed that he is not at his best and Deepak Chahar should be the permanent choice in ODI cricket.
"India needs to find the solid option in the middle-order. Batting at the top is easy in ODI cricket, you can get the fifties and the odd hundred but it's the guys batting at four, five six that really go on to win you matches.
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"Bowling wise Bhuvneshwar Kumar had given signs even before this trip that he is finding it really tough to get back to his best. The way Deepak Chahar played was superb. The ball to get Janneman Malan... That one ball should tell the selectors that Deepak Chahar is a better option than Bhuvneshwar, Chahar's batting is an added bonus," Manjrekar said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave more than 6 runs per over and was also unsuccessful in picking any wickets. He was also critical of the performances of Indian spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
"Ashwin strangely came back into India's ODI plans for some reason. India paid a price for that. He played the two crucial games, did nothing much. (Yuzvendra) Chahal is also under the scanner. Prasidh Krishna needs to be backed a bit more. Also, in 50-overs, Mohammad Shami can be a good option," he added.
Amidst the defeat of the ODI series, Deepak Chahar and Prasidh Krishna were impressive.
Krishna took 3 wickets while Chahar played an extraordinary inning of 54 runs off 34 balls but South Africa eventually won the game by 4 runs. Chahar also picked 2 crucial wickets for his team.
