Fringe players seal low-key ODI series 2-1 for India

Three ODIs in a landscape culminating, for most cricketing nations, in the 2024 T20 World Cup next summer and sandwiched around Test series between other teams and an astonishing IPL mini-auction (but was it, really?) were somewhat of an oddity. The BCCI selectors sent an ODI squad to South Africa missing a roster of first-choice players and featuring just three from the World Cup final, and the result was

The previous time an Indian team played ODIs in South Africa, back in early 2022, it was beaten 0-3. By that account, defeating the hosts 2-1 with a squad made up primarily fringe players and rookies should count for something.

The first ODI in Johannesburg was one-way traffic, with the second-chance pair of Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan sharing nine wickets between themselves to skittle South Africa for 116, which stands as their lowest ODI total at home.

Arshdeep, in his first List A match since his previous ODI appearance in November 2022, became the first Indian left-arm seamer to take five wickets in an ODI since 2014, and just the fourth overall. Avesh, in his first ODI in over a year, claimed four. So dominant was this pair in conditions that strongly aided swing and seam that South Africa’s batsmen struggled to the extent that seven of the ten wickets to fall were either bowled or lbw.

A target of 117 was then overhauled in 16.4 overs with exactly 200 balls to spare, with the debutant opener Sai Sudarshan hitting 55 not out from 43 deliveries, while supported by Shreyas Iyer who in his only appearance of the series scored 52 from 45 balls.

In the second ODI at Gqeberha, South Africa hit back strongly to set up a decider. Put into bat, India – without Iyer for the remainder of the series – could only manage a total of 211, failing to bat out their 50 overs, with Sudarshan and skipper KL Rahul the only ones to register fifties. A second successive failure for Ruturaj Gaikwad set in motion an innings that lacked sizeable partnerships, with Sudarshan top-scoring with 62 off 82 deliveries and Rahul making 56 off 64.

South Africa chased down their target in 42.3 overs for the loss of just two wickets, thanks to a first ODI hundred from opener Tony de Zorsi, who finished on 119 not out from 122 balls, which included six sixes to take the home team across the finish line with 45 balls remaining.

In the decider, when the openers failed, Sanju Samson was sent in at No 3 and scored his maiden ODI century from a tough spot to set up, with some help from Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh, a match-winning total of 296. South Africa made good progress in their chase and were at one stage 141 for the loss of two wickets, but the bowlers rallied to conjure a 78-run victory. Arshdeep claimed four to become Player of the Series, and the spinners applied the skids well.

Now given that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer will all return, the fringe players had to make contributions worth remembering. How did they fare?

Sudarshan, 22, made himself counted for with two fifties before falling for 10 in the last ODI. He is firmly behind another left-hander, Yashasvi Jaiswal, when it comes to getting chances as an opener in white-ball cricket, but Sudarshan’s first taste of international cricket can be deemed a definite positive. Gaikwad was a failure, with scores of 5 and 4, and will probably struggle to get more chances once the regulars return. Ditto for Varma, who made 1*, 10 and then 52 off 85 balls in the decider.

Samson, recalled for his first ODI since the tour of the West Indies, managed 12 and then a fine century in the decider, but he too does not seem like a player around whom India will make plans because Rahul and Ishan Kishan are around and Rishabh Pant will be back in due time.

Rinku, after a super run in T20Is, was handed his ODI debut and scored 17 and 38, that second knock underlining why the 26-year-old is rated so highly as a finisher. Surely, India can do better than Suryakumar Yadav at No 6 going forward with an eye on the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 2027 ODI World Cup, and in Rinku they have a proven performer.

From the bowling pool, in the absence of India’s World Cup trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, the team management went with Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep and Avesh for all three ODIs. Mukesh managed one wicket in three games and looked flat for most of the series. Avesh did well with six wickets, and looked the quickest of all the pacers. Arshdeep, with 10 wickets at 9.50 apiece and an economy of 3.51, was the pick of the lot. With Ravindra Jadeja not part of the ODI squad, Axar Patel was given three matches and claimed a solitary wicket in two innings. Washington Sundar got one ODI and took 2/38.

A mix of good, bad and average, all told. And no clarity as to how many of these fringe players will play India’s next ODI series.