India vs South Africa | Kris Srikkanth raises concern over MS Dhoni’s consistency

In the ongoing ODI series, the former Indian skipper scored a combined 56 runs in three innings - out of which 42 came in the last game at the Wanderers. In the third ODI, Dhoni, despite coming in early, couldn't do much and scored only 10 runs off 22 balls. In the rain-affected fourth ODI, the team needed Dhoni’s fast knock after another middle order failure but he took 43 balls to score 42 runs, 12 of which came in the last six balls. Similarly, Hardik Pandya has been going through a terrible run of form and scored 26 runs and claimed only one wicket. After getting a place for the first two Tests over Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit failed in all four ODIs and managed only 40 runs.

"The form of Rohit Sharma is a big concern and so is the strike rate and consistency of Dhoni and Pandya. Rohit is too good a player in this format to be missing out, especially in proper batting conditions," Srikkanth was quoted as saying by TOI.

"Dhoni failed to accelerate as he has in the recent past (in the fourth ODI). The former captain and Hardik Pandya could not have hoped for a more solid platform to launch an attack and get India to a massive score."

Throughout the series, Kohli showed terrific form with the bat and top the run-scoring chart with 393 runs with two centuries. Rohit's failure meant that the Indian skipper was given extra responsibilities of strengthening the side in middle. Srikkanth has been all praise for the 29-year-old.

"This series has so far been all about Virat Kohli and one significant partnership with him in the middle (last three with Shikhar Dhawan). Once you take those numbers out, there is little else to show. Constant chopping and changing of personnel and the batting order is not helping the team's cause either," he said.