South Africa vs India 2018: 5 reasons Indian management should choose Rahul over Dhawan

Dhawan's erratic ways

India v Pakistan - ICC Champions Trophy Final

Form also favours Shikhar Dhawan, who put on an exemplary performance against Sri Lanka in the ODI series. However, time and again as it has happened, just as he seems to go off the radar, he manages to revive himself with a short string of match-winning performances. The Sri Lanka series could well have been one of those instances where Dhawan showed an odd spurt of form at a rather irregular interval.

Roll back the years. Dhawan had a poor run in South Africa in 2013 and later in the New Zealand ODIs in 2014. Consequently, he was dropped midway through the series and just managed to give himself another chance with a hundred in Auckland. Following this, he faded away yet again only to be dropped halfway through the England series in the same year. However he returned for the ODIs and managed to get a face-saving half-century which all but sealed his place for the home season.

The mouse abroad was a lion at home.

A hundred and three fifties against the mediocre Sri-Lankan and Windies attack meant he would be picked for the tour Down Under. The mouse returned, but he was a mere shadow of his home self. The lion had to emerge sometime soon and so it did at the MCG against the South Africans in the World Cup.

Fast forward to 2017: Dhawan struggled for form in the Carribean Islands and looked in extreme discomfort against the likes of Trent Boult and Matt Henry in the lone test he played against New Zealand. Then came the Sri-Lanka tour. A daddy hundred and so, he's managed to book a seat on the flight to South Africa.