India vs South Africa 2022: Shikhar Dhawan to lead ODI side in SA series, say BCCI sources

Veteran Team India opener Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa on home soil, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources told news agency ANI. The captaincy will be handed over to Dhawan as T20 World Cup 2022-bound players are likely to be rested, the sources added.

The eighth edition of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 is set to take place from October 16 to November 13 this year in Australia. Moreover, VVS Laxman is likely to be with the team as a coach in absence of head coach Rahul Dravid, BCCI officials added.

India will play three T20Is and ODIs each against South Africa starting September 28. The first T20I will be held in Thiruvananthapuram on September 28. The second T20I will be played on October 2, 2022, Gandhi Jayanti, to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Guwahati, followed by the last T20I at Indore on October 4.

Shikhar Dhawan and Aaron Finch in ICC tournaments (50 overs)
Dhawan
1238 runs in 19 inn @ 65.15 SR 98.25
6-100s
4-50s
2 Golden Bat
Finch
882 runs in 22 inn @ 40.09 SR 98.32
3-100s
5-100s
No disrespect to Finch but definitely Finch not greater than Dhawan in ODIs https://t.co/QTTIUrJWdH — ______ (@iamskn_71) September 10, 2022

The action will then shift to Lucknow on 6th October where the ODI series will get underway, where Shikhar Dhawan will lead the squad. Ranchi and Delhi will host the second and third ODI, respectively, on October 9 and 11.

Rohit Sharma & Co will leave for Australia on October 9 or 10. The early departure will help in acclimating to the Australian conditions and time zones. India will begin with intra-squad practice matches before the warm-up games.

The likes of Rahul Tripathi are expected to make their debut in the series. While young tearaway Umran Malik could also make a comeback for the ODI series after making his debut against Ireland earlier this year.

Dhawan has been in fine form this year in the ODI matches, averaging 51.85 from 9 ODIs in 2022. He has scored 363 runs from 9 matches this season. Overall in 158 ODIs, Dhawan has scored 6,647 runs with 17 hundreds and 38 fifties at an average of 45.84.

(with ANI inputs)