Five Indian Players Who Might Make A Comeback In The ODI Series Against South Africa

5 Players Who Might Make A Comeback In The ODI Series Against South Africa; The upcoming ODI series against South Africa is going to be crucial for quite a few players after facing a tough time in New Zealand. They were outsmarted by New Zealand in all three ODI games before locking horns in the longer version of the game.

Following the tough tour, the Indian fans expect them to do well against young South Africa side, who have been making waves in home conditions for a while now. Apart from that, Proteas will take a boost from the T20I series victory when they previously toured India.

Considering all those factors, the New Indian selection panel might announce a strong squad to get the better of South Africa. It would certainly pave way for a few star cricketers — to make a comeback into the Indian team, especially after a poor show in New Zealand ODIs.

Assuming the same, we figured out five players who might make a comeback for the ODI series against South Africa.

Five Indian players who might make a comeback in the ODI series against South Africa:

5. Bhuvneshwar Kumar:

The swing master Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the likely candidate to make a comeback into the Indian team–for the Home Series against South Africa. Bhuvneshwar Kumar suffered a groin injury during the home T20I series against the West Indies last December. It has kept him out of the side till date.

Bhuvneshwar last represented India during the series-deciding third T20I against the West Indies in Mumbai. He was also selected to play the following ODI series against the same opponent, but was replaced by Shardul Thakur due to an injury.

The pacer has been out of cricketing action since then. He has also undergone a rehabilitation program at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). After missing out on the West Indies ODIs, the 30-year old missed the limited-overs home series against Sri Lanka and Australia.

He is also not a part of India’s ongoing full-fledged tour of New Zealand. Now, he is completely fit and available for the selection.

Also Read: World XI Squad Announced To Face Asia XI In The T20I Series

4. Axar Patel:

Well, we can see the return of Axar Patel for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa if things fall in place for him. As Ravindra Jadeja has been playing a lot of cricket in the recent past, the selection panel might draft in Patel as a like-for-like replacement.

Besides that, Patel already proved his worth with brilliant performances for Gujarat in the ongoing Ranji Trophy as well. The flamboyant all-rounder also improved his batting stats to make things fall in place for him.

Axar does not have the spin of a classical tweaker, but his variations make him a dangerous player. Patel has troubled many batsmen with his accurate bowling, cramping the batsmen for room and buying wickets — the need of the hour in limited-overs cricket.

3. Rohit Sharma:

India have suffered a big setback ahead of the ODI and Test series against New Zealand when Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the remainder of the tour because of a calf injury. Sharma had a tear in his left calf muscle.

It kept him away from the action for nearly a month. Now, he recovered enough to make a comeback to the team against South Africa ahead of IPL 2020.

The busiest Indian player since 2019, Rohit continued to play competitive cricket even as other players took rest. His first break since 2019 came in January 2020 but Rohit was back in action when India played Australia in three ODIs even when the series had no relevance.

Mostly, the comeback of Rohit is on the cards unless selectors try youngsters against South Africa.

2. Shikhar Dhawan:

The battle for the opening slot once again begins with Shikhar Dhawan recovering completely from the injury. The stylish southpaw had a brilliant recovery phase in the last couple of months, as he trained himself to deliver the best for his country.

Team India opener Shikhar Dhawan’s 2020 did not start off too well as the cricketer suffered yet another injury. The 34-year-old had suffered a shoulder injury during India’s third and final ODI against Australia before the Men In Blue flew out for their tour of New Zealand.

Since then, Dhawan has been undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru while India took on New Zealand away from home in five T20Is and three ODIs.

However, the cricketer recently took to social media — to announce his return to full fitness. With Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw failing to perform, it is likely that Shikhar Dhawan will be making his comeback.

1. Hardik Pandya:

Hardik has been the talk of the town ever since he underwent surgery in the UK in October. While there has been a slight delay in him regaining full fitness, he did start bowling at the NCA in Bengaluru after returning from a check-up in the UK.

India all-rounder Pandya will take part in the D.Y. Patil T20 tournament, which began on Monday. Earlier this month, Pandya was ruled out of the Test series against New Zealand after failing to regain full match fitness.

However, he is likely to clear it this time to feature for India against South Africa. Hardik played his last international in 2019 (against South Africa).