IND vs SA: Maybe KL Rahul Wants To Allow Yuzvendra Chahal To Come Back - Sanjay Manjrekar On Why Venkatesh Iyer Didn't Bowl In First ODI

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar stated that the Indian captain KL Rahul wanted to give leggie, Yuzvendra Chahal, his full quota of overs in order to make a proper comeback to the team.

As a result, Venkatesh Iyer wasn’t used as the sixth bowling option despite Shardul Thakur going for plenty of runs on a slow pitch. South Africa ended up posting a total of 296 on the board with centuries from Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen.

“Maybe he just wants to sort of allow people like Chahal to come back. He is a young captain and these are guys who are seasoned so the captain feels ‘If I take them off the attack, it’s confirmation you had a bad day’. But he should have remained clinical about it,” Manjrekar said in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo.

Definite case to have Venky Iyer bowling 4-5 overs – Sanjay Manjrekar

Considering the fact that Iyer has previously shown he is capable of bowling in the IPL, it could have been worth trying him in the middle or the death overs. However, Rahul opted against it for unknown reasons.

“There was a definite case to have Venky Iyer bowling 4-5 overs. Especially, when you have someone like Bavuma who doesn’t have the power to get him away at his pace on this kind of a pitch. So it’s a valid question as to why the sixth bowler wasn’t used considering a couple of them were going to the cleaners,” Manjrekar added.

Bavuma and van der Dussen ended up putting on 204 runs for the fourth wicket which was the second-highest for the wicket against India in ODIs. It was also the second century for Bavuma and van der Dussen.

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