India tour the West Indies right after the Champions Trophy finals in England for a five ODI and one T20 series.
The squad for the short tour was announced yesterday and it is not that dissimilar to the one currently playing in England. The only difference being that Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav take the places of Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
Shikhar Dhawan, after a brilliant run in the Champions Trophy, keeps his place as the opener and Yuvraj Singh keeps his place at number four.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane might open the batting with Shikhar Dhawan. Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni take up the rest of the batting positions. Virat Kohli will captain the side and play at number three – his usual spot.
It will be interesting to see if India plays Rishabh Pant at the top of the order resting Shikhar Dhawan.
Rishabh is an exciting player and it will be nice to see the Indian team management give him some games in this series.
The squad contains as many as three specialist wicket keepers including MS Dhoni which is a little odd.
Virat Kohli justified the resting of Rohit Sharma as a ploy to give the opener more time to recover from his hip surgery. There was no particular reason given for the exclusion of Jasprit Bumrah though.
Bumrah wasn’t part of India’s long Test season and played in the IPL before the Champions Trophy, so unless he has picked up an injury it is a strange decision.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin along with Kuldeep Yadav take care of the spin department in the squad. Considering the amount of cricket played by the Indian Test team recently, it would have been prudent to rest the Indian Test spinners.
Someone like Yuzvendra Chahal would have been a good addition to the X1 in place of Ashwin or Jadeja.
Umesh Yadav also is part of the ODI squad. Yadav played in all the home Tests this season and also played in the IPL. It will be interesting to see if Yadav will be rested by Kohli for the majority of the series.
Mohammed Shami who could not get a game in the ongoing Champions Trophy will be expected to take the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of Umesh Yadav.
Hardik Pandya in all probability will play as the third seamer/all-rounder in the team. It will also be interesting to see if Rishabh Pant plays in the X1 on this tour.
India already have MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik as the wicket Keepers, so Rishabh Pant will most probably play as a specialist batsman in the X1.
This tour is a short one and the team management will probably rotate the players to avoid any player burnout issues. India also tours Sri Lanka for a Test series in July and would want their Test specialists to be rested and free of injury for the same.
There is a strong possibility that Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav might find themselves in the starting X1 for India’s first game at Queens Park Oval on the 23rd.
Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Dinesh Karthik
Savage
Roar Rookie
brilliant bowling from kuldeep yadav.I hope our experienced,overatted spinners jadeja and ashwin could learn something from him.
Savage
Roar Rookie
what a wonderful bowler england have in mason crane.loved the way he dismissed ab devilliers after being hit for consecutive sixes.india - wi match is seriously such a snoozefest with india being typically predictable(also boring).i would love to see kohli facing new ball in this series and improve his game against swinging ball.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
MV Sridhar will travel with the team to supervise the team management. Whatever that means. India already have Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar as the coaching staff. I don't think they need too many people travelling with the team.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Now Kumble has resigned as the head coach of the national team. It will be interesting to see how India go about their WI tour. The entire thing has been handled poorly by BCCI.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
I think Ashwin should retire from ODI cricket. He isn't fit for this format and his attempt to take a catch at third man was really poor against Bangladesh. Either he needs to get fitter or just concentrate on test cricket. India needs to experiment with Chahal and Kuldeep in ODI's. Both of them are attacking wicket taking bowlers. Jadeja and Ashwin are not wicket takers and mostly bowl restrictive spells to dry up runs. Jaddu is a great fielder and offers runs with the bat, so will continue to get picked but Ashwin needs to go. Champions Trophy was a good farewell for Yuvi, he can now retire in peace. I think he should retire after the WI tour. Rahane needs to be kept away from ODI's, he hasn't done anything of note in this format. Rishabh Pant, Samson and others need to play regularly in the ODI team leading up to the world cup.
Coriander Son
Guest
Probably time to say thank you to Yuvraj and Ashwin seeing that the next world cup is in 2019 in England. For me, you can only fit one of Yuvraj or Dhoni and one of Ashwin or Jadeja in the team. You can only fit one 38 year old in the team for 2019, Dhoni offers more consistency. Jadeja offers more to the team while Ashwin in ODIs has become one dimensional and is a liability in the field. Once the coaching situation is sorted, I believe these changes will be made. The likes of Pant, Yadav, Chahal, K Pandaya should get their opportunities in the next 18 months. Rahul should come in at the top. Dhawan scored in this tournament but I am not convinced about his longevity. Bowling wise, fitness permitting Yadav, Kumar, Bumrah and Shami backed up by H Pandaya is a good core group.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Faulkner is a great bat lower down the order, Bumrah isn't. Faulkner provides more value for his team than Bumrah.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
The biggest problem for India in Champions Trophy was they played Bumrah ahead of Shami and Yadav. Bumrah as you said is a good in the final 10 overs but he is not a new ball bowler. Bhuvi is an so is Shami. Yadav is good with the new ball as well. I feel he will be good in T20's for India but not a long term prospect in ODI's and Tests. India needs to be play Shami, Bhuvi and Yadav, along with Pandya in ODI's. That will be a great bowling attack.
Savage
Roar Rookie
"he does'nt swing the ball" exactly that's why he can never be as good as starc who has every attributes(pace/swing/bounce also can ball at any stage whether with new ball or death).one thing is for sure that he's not a new ball bowler but india wont mind that much as india have decent new ball bowlers in bhuvaneshwar,yadav/shami.i can see bumrah as slightly improved version of faulkner in future.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I'm not convinced Bumrah is going to have success against the best ODI sides. He has no "X-Factor" - he doesn't swing the ball, he's not quick, and he's very short (175cm) so he gets limited bounce. Bumrah has a brilliant yorker but no other great attribute. The elite quicks in ODI cricket all have a fairly unique attribute(s) - Starc (pace/swing/bounce), Hazlewood (bounce), Boult (swing), Rabada (pace/bounce) - and Bumrah has none of those three things. He'll be a great death bowler because of his yorkers but you need more skills than that to have an impact in the first 35 overs of an ODI innings.
Savage
Roar Rookie
rahane inclusion and kuldeep yadav exclusion in champions trophy just shows the mentality of indian cricket.
Savage
Roar Rookie
bumrah is still a very fine bowler.the problem with him is he balls 4 good/great deliveries then ball a simple loosener(or vice versa) .if he can improve his consistenecy he can be one of the best odi bowlers in the world.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Rahane should have probably been replaced by some young player. India should try out new players in the ODI format.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Seems like resting Bumrah was a good decision. The guy had completely lost it, don't blame him completely but he bowled very poorly yesterday. Reminded little bit of Zaheer Khan in 2003 world cup finals.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yup after the Champions Trophy result, I feel that both Ashwin and Jadeja need to be rested and Ind need some good spinners for ODI. They could have picked Chahal along with Kuldeep as both offer some difference in the shorter format.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
In place of Rahane another youngster may be included, also Ashwin and Jadeja should have been rested prior to Sri Lanka Test tour.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
That's true, WI need such series to keep their interest in the game alive. Indian stars touring is good for getting good crowds for the games. Lots of indian expats there.
vikram
Guest
@brasstax well ask wi these type of tours keeps them alive/ i ment saves them from bankruptcy right
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Rahane is a strange case. He plays aggressively in tests and scores a lot of runs but in ODI's he struggles. Not sure why he is picked all the time. Probably if KL Rahul had been fit Rahane would not have been in the squad.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yup not necessary right after the champions trophy. They could have rested more players from but BCCI has decided to go with a full strength squad.