SA vs IND 2018: Virender Sehwag Predicts India's Playing XI for Durban ODI

While India’s form in the One-Day International has been next to impeccable in the last one year or so, there is no denying the playing eleven is far from being settled.

Ever since Virat Kohli took the captaincy last year, the Men in Blue had defeated England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand in addition to making it to the finals of the Champions Trophy.

But at the same time, one cannot deny the middle-order has been a big area of concern for the team management. While the top three and the bowling lineup looks pretty much settled, the middle-order especially the number four spot has been a mess.

Since the series against Sri Lanka in August last year, India had experimented extensively to get a settled middle-order but without much success. The likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav and even Hardik Pandya have been tried out at number four but have not managed to do well.

The team is now gearing up for the first game of the six-ODI series against South Africa and the team-management will have once again a hard time choosing the playing eleven for the series-opener. And the team-management can take a cue from the predicted eleven announced by former India opener, Virender Sehwag.

The batting legend feels the team should give Manish Pandey an extended run before the 2019 World Cup. He also opined that the Men in Blue should go in with three pacers and one spinner.

“My playing XI will be Rohit, Shikhar, Kohli, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami, Bumrah and Chahal. It will be better if you give more chances to Pandey before the 2019 World Cup. Manish Pandey is a good player and should be given more chances,” Sehwag told India Tv.

The 39-year old went on to say that winning the first game of the series is important to get the momentum for the remainder of the series.

“It is very important to win the first match because it gives you the right momentum for the rest of the series. If you lose the first match, you are under pressure. If India plays like they did in Johannesburg, they might create history,” he said.

India will look to make a winning start to the series on Thursday. India had never won a bilateral ODI series in South Africa before, as they previously lost 2-5 in 1992-93, 0-4 in 2006-07, 2-3 in 2010-11 and 0-2 in 2013-14.

Here is the news feed:

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Catch India’s tour of South Africa here