Indian cricket fans will get to catch plenty of adrenaline-pumping actions as Team India will be taking on South Africa in all the three formats of the international game starting from 2 October. The first T20 will be played at the Dharamshala HPCA Stadium in Himachal Pradesh.
MS Dhoni will be back at the helm of Team India in the limited over formats and his role in the team will be crucial when they will be up against the big lads of South Africa.
The batting order is the first thing that Dhoni seriously needs to take a close look at. We all know that Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be right at the top of the order and will be followed by Virat Kohli at no. 3. But who should bat at no. 4 ideally? MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane or Suresh Raina?
Yeah, I know quite a number of heavy names, right? Let me try and clear your doubts!
The last time when Team India went to Bangladesh, they were handed a shocking defeat in the ODI series. In the final ODI of the three match series, Dhoni came up the batting order at no. 4 to stabilise the ship. And as we know, he scored 69 runs and it was a quite unlike-Dhoni innings. That particular innings made the selectors and the coach realise that Dhoni should give it a thought to re-invent his batting at this juncture of his career.
Dhoni did not play any cricket ever since then until the charity T20 match for the Help for Heroes against the Rest of the World XI. The tag of 'one of the best finisher' of the game was yet again revived as he guided his side to a thrilling victory.
The marathon series against South Africa is in the horizon and the interim Team India director Ravi Shastri has left it to the India ODI and T20 captain whether he would want to come up the order or come in at no. 6 and play his traditional role of being a finisher.
Meanwhile, Rahane can fit in well in the no.5 position because he has the ability and mentality of playing a long innings if the situations demands. Then the only way to finish an innings can be handed over to Raina.
The left-handed attacking batsman has managed to score 837 runs in 22 innings at an average of 41.85. When it comes to strike-rate, Raina can easily score more than run-a-ball. And looking at the South African bowling attack, this particular Team India batting order might just do wonders for them in the upcoming series. Dhoni can rely on Raina and pass on the baton to the latter to finish games in his own ways.
