New Delhi: India will take on South Africa under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan in three-match ODI series starting from today, October 6, in Lucknow. The game has been delayed by half an hour due to rain.

Ahead of the series, Dhawan said that it will be an opportunity for all the stand-by players for the T20 World Cup to make a case for themselves for the main squad.

Shikhar Dhawan before the first ODI

“Of course, it is very important because the more matches they (standby players) are going to play, they will be in better groove and better mindset. If the boys perform well, then obviously the confidence will help them. Who knows they might get a chance so they can look at this series as preparation,” Dhawan said on the eve of the first game.

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Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, and Deepak Chahar are the standbys named for the Indian team for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and will be traveling as reserves.

In the ODIs against South Africa, a few uncapped players like Rahul Tripathi, Rajat Patidar, Mukesh Kumar, and Shahbaz Ahmed will also be seen in action. At the same, Dhawan feels that the series will be an opportunity for the youngsters to get exposure and will help them to grow.

“If you look at the performance of our youngsters, the transition that happened that shows their confidence.”

Dhawan further mentioned that the South African side is excellent and competitive.

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“South Africa has a good team. Winning and losing are part of the game but it is important to learn from defeats. Both the teams made plenty of runs in the T20 series. It depends on pitch, dew factor and plenty of other factors.”

“Whenever experiment happened that time the senior players were not there. They were given rest, need to manage their load otherwise there are chances of injuries. Whoever is made the captain he is the most senior-most player and capable for the job,” he added.

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