Following India’s shambolic 0-3 whitewash in the South Africa ODIs, former captain Sunil Gavaskar has urged the management to look at three players very carefully and groom them for the future. India were outplayed in the first two ODIs in Paarl, but put up a much improved show in the third game in Cape Town, and although the team failed to get over the line, a few individual performances impressed Gavaskar.

India made three changes in the Playing XI for the dead rubber. With South Africa having already captured the series, India swapped Venkatesh Iyer for Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Prasidh Krishna for Shardul Thakur, and Gavaskar reckons these three players need to be out there on the ground rather than warming the benches.

“Definitely. They have only enhanced their claims by the way they played,” Gavaskar said about Suryakumar, Chahar and Prasidh when asked if these three were the players India should invest in going ahead.

“Yes, it was a dead rubber but for them it was not. Because for them it was an opportunity to show what they are capable of. And they knew South Africa would be very keen to have a complete sweep of the series. So that the pressure would be on them. And they came through very well. There is no question about it, which is the reason you need to invest in them more.”

Suryakumar, playing his first match of the tour, looked in great nick scoring 39 off 32 with four fours and one six, whereas Prasidh picked up 3/59 and was the best Indian bowler on show. Meanwhile, Chahar not only picked up 2/32 but scored a scintillating half-century. Chahar’s counter-attacking innings brought India back into the match where they gave themselves a real chance of ending the tour on a high. He scored 54 off 34 with five fours and two sixes before perishing to Lungi Ngidi as India stumbled to knock off the final 10 runs.

“Give them the feeling that now they should get more opportunities. That now they belong in the team than being made to sit in the dugout. So definitely these three names ones that you need to look at for the future,” added Gavaskar.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times