South Africa's team changes have not made sense: Sourav Ganguly

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is unimpressed with the way South Africa tinkered with their playing XI in the recently concluded six-match ODI series against India. South Africa were outclassed, losing 1-5 with India recording a historic first ever bilateral ODI series victory on their soil.
With AB de Villiers missing the start of the ODI series and Faf du Plessis being subsequently ruled out after hurting his finger, a depleted South Africa batting order found it difficult to negotiate the Indian bowlers, especially the spinners.The out-of-form batsmen added to their woes but when David Miller seem to have returned to some form after failing in the first three matches, he was dropped from the final ODI as SA aimed to salvage some pride. Miller scored 7, 0 and 25 in the first three ODIs but in the next two returned scores of 39 and 36.
Writing in his column for Times of India, Ganguly observed that the hosts have made wholesale changes for the T20I series but some of them have been surprising. "Yes, a team makes changes when it loses but the changes have not made sense for South Africa," Ganguly wrote. "It will be a completely new set of players and looking at the importance of the series, I find it hard to understand some of the selections. A tour by India is always special to any country and the South Africans have surprised with some ‘non-selection’."
While Miller will resume his duties in the T20I series that begins from Sunday, pacer Kagiso Rabada, who has been one of their top-performers, has been excluded from the squad. "The exclusion of David Miller in the last ODI itself was surprising, as is the omission of Kasigo Rabada from the T20 squad. JP Duminy will be leading in the T20 format but was not included in the final one-dayer while Tabraiz Shamsi, who bowled well at Port Elizabeth, was replaced by Imran Tahir in the last game," he wrote.
Virat Kohli became the first batsman to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series as he recorded three centuries across the six games, leading from the front. He was chosen as the man-of-the-series for scoring 558 runs at an excellent average of 186.
Ganguly was happy to see the way the 29-year-old performed even after India had already sealed the series in their favour. "After losing the Test Series, India were super dominant in the ODIs against South Africa and it has been such a pleasure to see Virat Kohli bat the way he has in the 5-1 win. He was the major difference between the two sides and what stands out for me is the way he batted even in the dead rubber," he opined.
The focus now shifts to the three-match T20I series which starts from Sunday and Ganguly feels that a 'superior' India will extend their form to the shortest format as well and end the tour on a high. "India proved themselves to be the superior one-day side they are, and I am sure they will continue to do so in the upcoming three-match T20 series. There is a distinct possibility that they will finish off this South Africa tour on a high. Of course, one understands that the shorter the format, the difference between the two sides reduces, but this South African unit will have to raise their standards immensely to compete with this Indian side," he signed off.