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INDIA CRASH

With India losing another overseas series, MS Dhoni’s test captaincy has come under the scanner. The fans have again started calling for him being removed immediately.

India has now lost 4 consecutive overseas test series under Dhoni. So, the fans who are demanding his sacking are well within his rights to do so, but, the problem for the Indian selectors at the moment is that there is no one in the test side who seems to be ready to take over as captain.

Virat Kohli is the first one in line, but, he has not even played 25 test matches so far. Yes, he has become one of the best batsmen in the world in a very short period of time, but, batting and captaincy are two very different things.

Kohli is one of those guys who have the reputation of losing their temper easily. He has been involved in quite a few on field verbal spats with the opposition players in the past. So, to give the responsibility of test captaincy to such a guy would be a bit risky.

Cheteshwar Pujara is the other option. He is calmer than Kohli and is a certainty in the test side as well now, but, he is also too young. He has been a regular figure in the international arena for just about a couple of years. So, to handle test captaincy would be a little hard for him.

The experts are of the opinion that the selectors shouldn’t opt for a new captain with England and Australia tours coming up. They reckon that things will completely fall apart for the Indian team if a new captain takes charge at this point of time.

Dhoni has already captained India in more than 50 test matches. So, he is highly experienced.

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GREAT CHANCE FOR SA

South Africa has a great chance to whitewash India in the ongoing ODI series. They have already won the first two games and the kind of form they are in at this point of time, if they don’t manage to win the third ODI, they would be kicking themselves.

However, India is the no. 1 ODI side in the world and they are not going to let the Proteas whitewash them that easily. They have got some highly skilful players and if a few of them get going, they can make things quite difficult for South Africa.

One more thing that can stop South Africa from securing the whitewash is the rain. The weather forecast on the match day is not that good and the game might end up being called off.

South Africa is expected to make a few changes in its playing XI. They have already won the series. So, they want to rest a few of their senior players so that they can be fresh for the test series which is going to start pretty soon.

As far as India is concerned, they would not be making too many changes. They would want to go into the game with their strongest XI and try to win it to restore some pride.

Yuvraj Singh who had not played in the last game might be making his way back into the XI and if that happens, Rahane will be out. That will be a tough call for Dhoni though. As a captain, you don’t want to demoralize a youngster by asking him to sit out after just one bad game.

The rest of the XI should remain the same. It’s a day night game. So, batting first will be the right thing to do after winning the toss as the ball moves under lights at Centurion.