IND vs SA 2022: Three Indian players who have made their case stronger for the 2023 World Cup

    These players were impressive against one of the best sides in the world.

    Shreyas Iyer
    Shreyas Iyer. (Image Credits: Twitter)

    With India’s main squad already left for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, India gave their 2nd string side a chance in the one-day series against South Africa. The young Indian guys produced a spirited performance against a full-strength Proteas side and won the series 2-1. South Africa won the first game, but India’s youngsters under Shikhar Dhawan’s leadership bounced back to win the next two matches.

    The series brought a number of positives for Men in Blue as their bench strength got mightier. With the ODI World Cup only a year away, India will begin their preparations for the mega event soon after concluding the T20 World Cup. With some consistent performances in this series, many youngsters have thrown their hats in the mix of potential candidates for the Indian squad for the 2023 World Cup.

    Meanwhile, in this post, we will talk about three players who have pushed their cases strongly for a place in India’s ODI squad.

    3 – Kuldeep Yadav

    The left-arm chinaman has been around India’s white-ball set-up for a while now. However, after getting dropped from the Indian side, Kuldeep Yadav is now slowly getting back to his best. He has shown his wicket-taking ability to the world and pushed his case firmly in the ODI series against South Africa.

    Kuldeep Yadav picked 6 wickets in three matches at a brilliant strike rate of 21.1. After picking up one wicket each in the first two matches, the Chinaman produced a man-of-the-match performance by bagging four wickets in the final game. If he can continue to perform like this, Kuldeep Yadav could make it to the Indian squad for the ICC World Cup 2023.

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    2 – Shubman Gill

    The elegant opener from Punjab had a fairly successful tour of Zimbabwe. However, this time around, the onus was on him to perform against a quality bowling attack from South Africa. The right-handed batter got out early in the first game with a peach from Kagiso Rabada. Meanwhile, he was unlucky to get caught & bowled after getting a start in the 2nd game. However, during his short knock of 28 runs in the 2nd ODI, Shubman Gill looked at his fluent best.

    Meanwhile, Gill played a match-winning knock in the 3rd on a difficult wicket. The youngster was unlucky to miss out on his by a single run but once again, he reminded the world of his batting prowess. Shubman Gill is a classy player and he could really emerge as a genuine opening contender for India alongside Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for the 2023 World Cup.

    1 – Shreyas Iyer

    Iyer is currently around India’s squad in all formats at the moment. He is a classy batter who scores runs for India whenever he gets a chance. However, his problem against short-pitched pace deliveries is pushing him back in the pecking order. Despite being the only flaw in his batting, Shreyas Iyer is a fantastic batter on Indian wickets. Furthermore, he is one of the best in the world when it comes to batting against spinners.

    Shreyas Iyer made full use of the ODI series against South Africa and amassed 191 runs in 3 matches at a strike rate of 111.69, including a ton and a half-century. For those who don’t know, India will be hosting the 2023 World Cup and a batter like Shreyas Iyer will be the perfect character to have in the middle order. If the Mumbai batter can keep up his form, he is likely to make it to India’s World Cup squad.

    Also Read: IND vs SA 2022: 3 changes India should make in 2nd ODI against South Africa