India vs SA 2015: Pressure on Shikhar Dhawan rises after successive failures

Dhawan has faced a total of just 15 deliveries in the Mohali Test match.

New Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan will relent after giving his wicket away in similar fashion to South Africa pacer Vernon Philander in day 2 of the first Test in Mohali on Friday.

Philander got his victim for the second time in a row in a space of two days. Shikhar Dhawan scored two successive noughts in the ongoing first Test and pressure is mounting on the left-hander.

Dhawan's foot movement against Philander while facing both the deliveries were missing. Philander identified Dhawan's weakness and bowled to him consistenty in the channel. Both deliveries were going outside the off-stump, and Dhawan's lack of footwork ensured a nick to Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers respectively.

The BCCI posted a video of the dismissals of Dhawan on Twitter.

Same batsman, same bowler, same dismissal, different days #IndvsSA https://t.co/oX9cbyZ29r — BCCI (@BCCI) November 6, 2015

Hashim Amla's captaincy needs to be lauded in handing Philander the new ball on Friday.

Dhawan's performances in the T20s and ODIs against the Proteas were below par and was still backed by team director Ravi Shastri for the Test series.

Youngster KL Rahul performed well against South Africa playing for Board President's XI. Even in the Ranji Trophy, the Karnataka batsman got off to good starts. Rahul is currently the 12th man of the side and the Indian team management could look up to him for the second Test.

With Murali Vijay playing well consistently, India would want a successful opening combination.

KL Rahul just like Cheteshwar Pujara is a classy player and if given the chance, he could make an impression once again. Rahul had got a century against Sri Lanka in India's 2-1 Test series victory.