4 worries that Team India need to sort-out despite series win

3. Honing backup bowlers

Fresh arms become handy

The Indian bowling unit in this series can be rated as one of the finest that has toured with Team India in recent times. Fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are well-aware of their strengths and they complement each other. With Bumrah playing the entire tour and Bhuvi missing out only a match in each of the formats, their dependency has to be distributed to the second line of bowlers too. It was a welcome move to rest Bhuvi and unleash Shardul Thakur, who performed well to grab 4 wickets. In the upcoming tours as well, it is necessary to get the backup fast bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav in playing XI whenever possible. The approach, in long-term, will help to marshal a fabulous core of fast bowlers who are always on their toes and come in to play under all circumstances.

The spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav ripped through the South African lineup in all games bar the 'Pink ODI'. The duo combined to grab 33 wickets together in the series. On current form, neither would want to sit on the bench but one of them can be relieved occasionally to accommodate Axar Patel's left-arm spin and handy lower-order batting in the team.

Hence, with the World Cup roughly a year away, the bowler rotation policy will serve both as an opportunity to build the second line of quality bowlers as well as to preserve the front-line bowlers.