Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has shared that stand-in captain KL Rahul looked out of ideas in the first ODI in Paarl on Wednesday. He said that when Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen added a match-winning stand as well. While speaking to Sports Today, Gavaskar has said that it’s still early days for KL Rahul as a skipper and he hopes India will do well in the next two ODIs.
Sunil Gavaskar also raised questions on India’s bowling changes, saying that Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were required to bowl more overs and Venkatesh Iyer could have been bowled in the middle overs as well. He also believes that could trouble both Bavuma and van der Dussen who successfully added 204 runs. South Africa, however, put up 296/4 in 50 overs and then restricted India to 265/8 as well.
“Well, when there is a partnership, sometimes the captain goes out of ideas. I think that is what happened. This was a very good pitch to bat on. The ball was coming onto the bat quite nicely, you can play through the line,” Gavaskar said.
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“During that partnership, it did look as if he had run out of ideas. KL Rahul didn’t know where to go. when you have your two-most experienced death-overs bowlers in Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar, you have to keep them for the last 5-6 overs. So that’s where you can actually stop the opposition from running away with a big score. But, these are early days of his captaincy and maybe things will turn around, let’s hope for Indian cricket’s sake that things turn around in the next couple of days,” he further added.
However, KL Rahul is now leading the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma who has been ruled out of the South Africa series owing to a hamstring injury. Rahul also opened the batting for India along with Shikhar Dhawan but couldn’t contribute much. Gavaskar also lauded Shikhar Dhawan who scored 79 as well.
“Not when Rohit is not around. He is in the team as an opening batter in all formats of the game. I don’t think he should be looking to bat himself down at No. 4 or 5. Right at the top, he can lead from the front as well. As far as Shikhar Dhawan is concerned, he has been scoring runs in the 50-over format, not so much in T20s. So as long as the man is scoring runs, everything else should be put in the background. You should not going to talk about his age and all that. I don’t see why there should be any talk about it,” Sunil Gavaskar stated.
The veteran also opined on Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s form, added that he has been out of form in recent times and pointed to his inability to restrict the flow of runs in the end overs as well.
While writing in his column for TOI, he wrote: “Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur leaked runs, though Thakur had made up for it somewhat by cracking an unbeaten half-century when SA had eased the pressure. For some time now, Bhuvneshwar has not been able to stem the runs in the final overs like he used to.”
Sunil Gavaskar also added that if India are looking to form the core team for the 2023 World Cup in India, then the time is now to start it. He also opened up on India’s middle-order woes as well.
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“That this series doesn’t count for points in the ICC Super League is a blessing. India being the host country will get an automatic entry, but that route is not for this Indian team. The middle order floundered after the terrific partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, as Pant and the two Iyers were unable to cash in and take the team home. Pant, in recent times, has been used at no.4 in the ODIs where he has not quite found the right mix of patience and aggression, so maybe it might be a good idea to use him as finisher at no.6, where he can throw his bat at will without having to bother too much about the situation,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
India will play against South Africa in the next ODI on Friday, January 21 in Paarl.
