Was Andre Nel-ed?

The pacer was dropped after taking four wickets

The Indian team made four changes in the playing eleven for Sunday’s 3rd ODI, but the talking point of selection was in the South African camp. Andre Nel, who was the match-winner for the home team in Durban, was inexplicably dropped from the team for the Newlands one-dayer.

DNA has learnt that the call was taken by Cricket South Africa’s chief selector Haroon Logart at the last minute. The decision, apparently, has not gone down well with captain Graeme Smith and coach Micky Arthur.

It is reliably learnt that both the captain and the coach argued in favour of Nel but Logart put his foot down in a discussion which took place a few minutes before the toss. Logart cut Nel’s name off and included Andrew Hall’s name in the list, much to the chargine of captain Smith. Nel bowled a fiery spell in Durban, returning figures of 4 for 13 in an eight-over spell. He was the wrecker-in-chief of the Indian team which plummeted to a 157-run defeat. Andrew Hall took his place in the XI.

Former India captain Ravi Shastri,  here as a commentator, was witness to the heated discussion of the South Africa team’s think tank.

“I’m not surprised Smith got out so early. He looked completely agitated during the discussion,” Shastri said.

Nel is believed to have injured his right finger during the nets on Saturday but on Sunday morning he was declared fit. But Logart thought otherwise. Logart was an all-rounder who took over the reins of the selection committee two years back from Omar Henry.

Logart played for a couple of provinces in the domestic cricket. Logart’s decision has, expectedly, come in for criticism with many former South African players condemning the inexplicable decision. Omar Henry, the convenor of selector before Logart, said that he was surprised by the decision to leave out Nel.