Reports: Shikhar Dhawan to return for South Africa ODIs, Rahane, Pujara to stay in Test squad

The Test and ODI squads for India’s upcoming tour to South Africa are yet to be announced. However, the Chetan Sharma-headed selection panel already has a lot of thinking to do. Irrespective of the outside noise, it has been reported that Shikhar Dhawan is likely to return to the ODI squad.

According to a report, the opener is all set to be named in the squad for the three one-dayers. Despite him being on the wrong side of the 30s, the Delhi batter has been a gun ODI player for quite a while now. As a matter of fact, he captained the Men in Blue during the Sri Lanka tour in July.

Speaking about the Test side, this report by TOI stated that Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are set to retain their places. The selectors seem keen on giving them a longer rope. However, owing to his poor form, it is highly unlikely that India’s vice-captain in the longest format of the game would feature in the XI.

Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara face the heat

While Rahane and Pujara have been regular features in India’s Test side for a long time, their current form hasn’t really been inspiring to say the least. The Mumbai batter, in particular, is having arguably the worst phase of his career.

He has an average of just 24.39 in his last 16 Tests. Barring his century against Australia at the MCG during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21, he doesn’t have any impactful knock under his belt of late. Players like Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari have made a strong case to replace him as India’s number 5 batter in Tests.

While the 27-year-old scored a brilliant century on his debut at Kanpur, the batter from Andhra Pradesh batter has scored three back-to-back half-centuries in the unofficial Test series against South Africa A. Pujara on the other hand has been inconsistent in the recent past as well. While he did score two half-centuries and a 45 during the England tour, he wasn’t able to score any big or impactful knock in the recently concluded series against New Zealand.