IND vs SA 2nd ODI: Patidar or Rinku set for debut, India look to seal series

Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh (Pic: AFP/File Pic)

RCB star batsman Rajat Patidar will be in competition against Rinku Singh for the one batting position in the Indian squad as the team moves ahead for the second ODI match against South Africa.

Team India will allow one of these players as Shreyas Iyer has joined the Test team for the two-match Test series against the hosts South Africa.

After the exceptional show by the Indian pacers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan in the first ODI, KL won't think of dropping them ahead of the second clash. The Indian skipper will aim to heal the scars of a 0-3 series loss back in 2002.

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The World wants to witness more impressive knocks by left-hander Rinku Singh. He showed the temperament and ability to play on the South African wickets which has more bounce as compared to other countries.

However, the Indore-based right-hander Patidar had made it to the Indian ODI team back in 2022 but in the past year had to struggle and underwent a heel surgery earlier this year.

The Indian team management has very specific roles for players and while Rinku is being looked upon as a finisher at No. 6, the 30-year-old Patidar is more of a specialist No. 4 when he bats for his state team Madhya Pradesh. Hence, with Iyer, a right-hander vacating a slot in the playing XI, his like-for-like replacement is Patidar.

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In the case of Rinku, the No.6 slot currently has been given to Sanju Samson, who is playing as a specialist batter behind skipper KL Rahul, who is donning the big gloves.

As has been the template of national team management, they would like to give Samson, who is senior to Rinku, a fair go at that slot before turning to the southpaw.

However Rinku's brilliant List A record (near 50 average) will force the team management to give him a go. In fact, both Rinku and Patidar could get a go but in that case, Tilak Varma, who got to face just a couple of deliveries in the opening game, will have to be dropped from the playing eleven. That doesn't seem very logical at the moment.
The opening game witnessed the debut of young left-handed opener B Sai Sudharsan, whose silken half-century held a lot of promise going into the future.

Not much change in bowling combination

The bowling department will not need much tinkering after a near-perfect performance from Arshdeep and Avesh.
Mukesh Kumar, whose 0/46 in 7 overs did stick out like a sore thumb, would want to present an improved version of his bowling as he either went too full or at times bowled too short during the opening game.

In case the team management wants to experiment, it can replace Mukesh with his Bengal teammate Akash Deep but that looks unlikely in the second game when the team is gunning for series glory.

In the spin department, both Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, who have not been picked for Tests, wouldn't like to miss out on international matches and it is unlikely that they would volunteer to rest which would allow Rahul to give Yuzvendra Chahal a chance to play the only format he has been selected.

Squads:

India:

KL Rahul (captain and wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, B Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Rinku Singh, Akash Deep, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar.

South Africa:

Aiden Markram (captain), Ottneil Bartman, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Mihlali Mpongwana, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Rassie van der Dussen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams, Kyle Verreynne.

Match Starts: 4:30 pm IST.

(With PTI Inputs)