India Tour of South Africa: With the absence of injured R Jadeja and Axar Patel for the India Tour of South Africa, Virat Kohli & Co are left with a lack of proper all-rounders. R Jadeja is the best all-rounder for India across formats while Axar Patel proved his mettle in the home series against New Zealand. Now, R Ashwin and Shardul Thakur will have to ensure they contribute equally with the bat. The batsman Ashwin now needs to come to the fore as India need to bat deep in South Africa. Follow India vs South Africa LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
India Tour of South Africa: Onus on ‘allrounders’ R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur to step up in absence of R Jadeja, Axar Patel
India tour of South Africa: Series likely to be end of road for Ishant Sharma
R Ashwin ‘the batsman’ needs to step up his game
- R Ashwin is all set to play to feature in the India Tour of South Africa after missing out on the India Tour of England.
- He has become magnificent across all formats with the ball but his batting prowess has gone down.
- In South Africa, he manages just 224 runs from 10 Tests at an average of 22.4 that features a lone fifty.
- He managed to score only 99 runs in two Tests against the recently-concluded New Zealand series.
- The 35-year-old needs to step us as a batsman amid ongoing middle-order wobble with the form of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane under the scanner.
R Ashwin
| Venue | Inns | NO | 100s | 50s | 0s | HS | Runs | Avg | S/R | Ca | St |
| Home | 59 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 124 | 1535 | 28.96 | 53.65 | 17 | 0 |
| Away | 55 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 118 | 1220 | 25.96 | 54.17 | 10 | 0 |
| Overall | 114 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 124 | 2755 | 27.55 | 53.88 | 27 | 0 |
Shardul Thakur needs to continue stellar form
- Shardul Thakur has impressed with the bat in his limited outings with the bat.
- He began the year with a promising 67 runs at the Gabba that changed the course of the game.
- He continued his decent run against England at the Oval with back-to-back fifties.
- Now, he needs to once again lead the lower-middle-order batting to guide the team to respectable scores in challenging conditions in South Africa.
- His inclusion also means India have to play in the XI over Mohd Siraj/ Ishant Sharma.
What if Ashwin or Thakur gets injured?
India are solely dependent on R Ashwin and Shardul Thakur to fill the role of allrounders in the SA tour. Jayant Yadav doesn’t have the batting prowess. In such a case an injury could do substantial damage to India’s dream of registering a debut series victory against Proteas in their backyard.
India’s Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.
Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
India Tour of South Africa: Onus on ‘allrounders’ R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur to step up in absence of R Jadeja, Axar Patel
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