Bengal seamer Mukesh Kumar and Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar earned maiden India call-ups for the three-match ODI series against South Africa on October 2. The two players are fresh faces part of an alternate India squad to be led by Shikhar Dhawan, missing all those selected in the main T20 World Cup touring party.
The series begins on October 6, the day India’s Australia-bound playing squad leaves for a preparatory camp in Perth. This meant the selectors had to pick an ODI squad that misses the entire usual first XI bar Dhawan. From the World Cup touring contingent, only Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi, who are part of the reserves, have stayed in India for now ahead of the three ICC Super League matches.
Patidar has earned the nod of approval from the selectors after a fairytale run with the bat since the start of IPL 2022. The right-hander was one of the big pluses for Royal Challengers Bangalore, hitting 333 runs from his eight innings at a strike-rate of 152.75, including a match-winning ton in the Eliminator versus Lucknow Super Giants.
He backed his Premier League exploits with a century in MP’s successful tryst with the Ranji Trophy final against domestic powerhouse Mumbai. Patidar continued his excellent form in the India A series versus a touring New Zealand side, scoring two centuries in four innings.
Mukesh is another player whose strong first-class performances have led to a white-ball selection. The right-arm seamer boasts of a poor List A record, with 17 wickets from 18 matches at an average of 44. But his returns in red-ball cricket for Bengal, India A and Rest of India have been impressive.
He took a five-fer against New Zealand A and backed that up with a spell of 4/22 on Day 1 of the Irani Trophy against Saurashtra. Before this, Mukesh bagged 20 wickets in five matches of a curtailed Ranji Trophy season. The pacer boasts of 109 first-class wickets at 22.40 per piece.
The selectors have carried a near-similar squad for the South Africa ODIs to the one that travelled to Harare for the Zimbabwe series in August, with only KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Deepak Hooda and Prasidh Krishna missing. The former two are rested due to T20 World Cup travels, while the other two are under injury rehab.
With no Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja available, the selectors have persisted with Bengal spin allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed without recalling Washington Sundar, whom he had replaced upon an injury for the Zimbabwe ODIs.
