A Word To The Selectors: You have to treat Virat and Rohit differently and give them space, says Sanjay Bangar

After two close encounters, the decider turned out to be a rather one-sided affair with India romping to a thumping nine-wicket victory over South Africa to clinch the three-match series 2-1 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday night.

The top three Indian batters proved quite a handful for the South African bowlers as India reached the modest target of 271 with 10.1 overs left. Yashasvi Jaiswal struck his maiden ODI century with an unbeaten 116 off 121 balls. Rohit Sharma and the in-form batter Virat Kohli hammered half-centuries to take India past the post.

Former India player and coach Sanjay Bangar was all praise for the Indian batters, while adding that the pitch was better than the ones in the previous two games. “It was a terrific batting display by all three Indian batters. They made full use of the conditions and the dew. What they missed in the first two matches, they got a better pitch here and made the most of it. Both, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were restrained. They didn’t try too hard, just played themselves in. Rohit knew he won’t play an international game for 30-40 days, and Yashasvi was finding his rhythm in 50-over cricket. Then when Virat Kohli came in, he decided to give some entertainment. The fluency we saw was terrific to watch. He seems to be on top of his game,” Bangar said on JioStar’s Cricket Live.

India did miss the experience of players like Virat and Rohit, who have retired from the longer format of the game, in the recent two-Test series which the hosts lost 0-2 to South Africa. But the ODI series proved a different ball game with Virat and Rohit in the team. Bangar also said that there should never be a question mark on Virat, who has been in scintillating form with the willow in the ODI series, and Rohit’s place in the team. Kohli hammered 302 runs with two centuries and a half-century at an average of 151 and Rohit was among the top five with 146 runs to his credit.

“I don’t think the place of Kohli and Rohit in the team should have been a question. Look at what they have done over so many years. They have retired from two formats, so it’s obvious they might take just a couple of sessions to get back into action, because they have done it so often. They don’t need to play as many matches as a younger player. Once they are there, once they are hungry and fit, you want players of that quality. You have to treat them differently and give them space. When they are on song, you see the difference. Their sheer presence changes the dressing room atmosphere. After the humiliating loss in the Test series, they must have spoken to the boys. They helped put things behind and play with freedom and authority, giving the whole team supreme confidence,” he said.

Young opener Jaiswal too received praise. “More than this particular innings of Yashasvi Jaiswal, look at it from an Indian cricket point of view. He is an established Test opener. Anyone who has batted at the top knows how hard it is to be consistent in Test cricket. But if you also open in white-ball cricket, you learn to handle the ups and downs of international cricket better. It keeps you in touch, keeps you playing against international bowlers, and you get those vital performances. That helps you take form from one format to another. Right now, he may not play regularly with Rohit opening. But once Rohit is done, I clearly see Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill benefiting from batting in the top order in white-ball cricket. That will also help their Test cricket game,” Bangar added.

KL Rahul, on whose shoulders fell the burden of leading the ODI team, was hailed by former South African speedster Dale Steyn. The former South African star said Rahul brings a sense of calm to the on-field action and is able to rally the seniors as well as the juniors well.

“KL Rahul’s captaincy has been very good in this series. He has marshalled his bowlers well and they have responded to him. Even with a wet ball, he never complained. After the second ODI loss, when asked what he could have done differently, he said the toss. The toss played a big role. You can see he is calm, cool and collected. He leans into Rohit Sharma for advice,

Old is Gold: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Pic: The Indian Express

and he also does a lot of captaining himself. He leans into Kohli to help motivate the players. His team responds well to him, and his bowlers back him. Sometimes, Kuldeep Yadav wants a DRS review every single time, and KL has to calm him down. But overall, I thought his captaincy was really good,” Steyn said.