IND vs SA: Time For India To Look At Deepak Chahar In Place Of Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opined that the Indian team needs to start looking at grooming Deepak Chahar over Bhuvneshwar Kumar after the latter’s ineffectiveness in the first two ODIs against South Africa in Paarl.

Bhuvneshwar conceded 64 runs in ten overs in the first ODI and 67 runs in eight overs in the second ODI whereas his pace counterpart, Jasprit Bumrah, was extremely economical and picked up wickets too.

“I think it’s time to look at Deepak Chahar now. He is younger, pretty much the same kind of bowler, and bats handily down the order. Bhuvi has been a tremendous servant of Indian cricket but in the last year or so, even in franchise level T20 cricket, he has been expensive.”

“Not so much at the start of the innings but towards the end. He used to bowl those brilliant yorkers and slower deliveries, but those are not working anymore. That can happen, the opposition is studying you all the time and they will know how to be prepared for it. So maybe it is time to look at somebody else,” Gavaskar told on Sports Today.

“Core team has to get the maximum number of ODIs” – Sunil Gavaskar

With a plan to build a team for the 2023 ODI World Cup, India needs to sort its bowling attack and begin providing opportunities to the best candidates, instead of hoping for old warhorses to come good once again, like in the case of Bhuvneshwar and Ravichandran Ashwin.

“Now the intention should be to look at what is going to be your core team for the 2023 World Cup in India. We have got a good 17-18 months to do that. The core team has got to get the maximum number of ODIs. There are matches coming against West Indies, Sri Lanka, and later on against England. That is where you have got to give them the maximum number of matches so they are well prepared for the World Cup,” Gavaskar mentioned.

The third ODI is a dead rubber and will be played on Sunday.

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