MS Dhoni

The series between India and South Africa is placed at a very sublime position at the moment. India would have hoped to seal the series on the 21^st, which would have been their first ever series victory in South Africa.

However the injury woe doesn’t seem to leave the Indian players. The only difference this time could be that it is the captain who has been injured.

It has been reported that while practicing in the nets Dhoni injured his leg. This injury, even though not very serious, would keep Dhoni out of the fourth ODI which is to be played in Port Elizabeth.

The reports on how serious the injury is, has not yet been confirmed. However it might be presumed that if the injury is quite serious then Dhoni might opt out of this series, keeping in mind that the World Cup is less than 30 days away.

So far in this series Sehwag , Gambhir , Praveen Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar have been sent back home,  to rehabilitate in time for the World Cup.

Now that Dhoni has to opt out of the fourth ODI, perhaps the captaincy for the game would be handed over to Suresh Raina. Raina who had captained the Indian ream last time in Zimbabwe, last year, did not fare very well. In fact India lost the series to Zimbabwe. Even then major players had opted to rest and the team was pretty inexperienced.

However with Gautam Gambhir out of the series, Raina would be the best available choice for India.

Mean while it is expected that Piyush Chawla as well as Ravichandran Ashwin might be included in the side, to give them ample match practice before the World Cup.

Murali Vijay who has not performed up to the mark so far, is expected to be replaced by Parthiv Patel who had been flown into South Africa with the ouster of Sachin Tendulkar. In such a situation Parthiv as well as Rohit Sharma, who had opened in the last match would be expected at the top of the order.

As far as South Africa is concerned, they would be going in with a similar side as the previous game. The only difference might be that Imran Tahir, a leg spinner, who is uncapped so far, could be given a chance.

Tags: Cricket, India, MS Dhoni, ODI Cricket, ODI Series, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Suresh Raina