SA vs IND: Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid face selection headaches ahead of Test series

Amidst all the chaos pertaining to the Virat Kohli-BCCI controversy, the attention is slowly drifting towards India’s upcoming tour to South Africa. As the visitors are yet to win a series in the rainbow nation, and the Asian giants are at their peak in the longest format of the game, this might be the best chance to create history.

Moreover, the option of too many has struck the Kohli-led side once again. The advantage of being a top-class side is your dilemma is “whom to drop” and not “whom to pick”. Thus, the coach and captain need to put in their thinking hats, and get their XI right for the Boxing day Test at Centurion.

However, like the tour in 2018, it is Ajinkya Rahane who is at the centre of the discussion. While he was one of the major reasons why India won the Johannesburg Test, which was a minefield for the batters last time in 2018, he doesn’t seem to be the same batter he was back then. Despite being a veteran in this format, the batter has been woefully out of form.

Shreyas Iyer vs Hanuma Vihari vs Ajinkya Rahane

Owing to his poor form in the past 12 months, the former vice-captain is the focal point of the selection dilemma. The 33-year-old has managed to score just two fifties in his last 10 Tests. In 2021, he has scored just 411 in 12 Tests, at a sub-par average of 19.57. However, on the other hand, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer have been in reasonably good form.

While the Andhra Pradesh batter scored three fifties in five innings during the India A tour to South Africa, the 27-year-old scored an amazing century on his Test debut during the recent home series against New Zealand. Thus, the option to play either of them ahead of India’s regular number five batter in Tests is tempting, to say the least.

Another option which the Kohli-Dravid duo have is to play two of the three batters, and then play with only the four-seamers. While this does strengthen the batting depth, the workload on the four pacers increases. Besides, this means that they’d have to drop their premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Thus, the selection headaches are definitely going to test the head coach and captain.