India have just completed an expected series win against a ninth-ranked West Indies away from home.
The team which played in the Caribbean was not that different from the one which played in Champions Trophy. India’s Champions Trophy campaign was a good one but when the tournament ended there were few questions which went unanswered regarding the selection and the future of the ODI team.
The 2019 World Cup is just couple of years away and this short tour could have been a great time for the team management to test out some young players.
It would have given the team a peek into the future and it would have also given the Test players a little more rest after a gruelling season.
The Indian selection for this tour, except for the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant, did not make much sense. The selectors could have rested Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and probably could have selected Yuzvendra Chahal and KH Pandya in the place of them.
Rishabh Pant, even though a good selection, could not get a game in this series which was extremely disappointing.
Virat Kohli decided to play Dinesh Karthik in the XI instead which is strange as the keeper from Tamil Nadu was not even in the reckoning for the national side before the Champions Trophy.
Yuvraj Singh was dropped for the final two games and was replaced by Dinesh Karthik. The rest of the batting order remained the same.
The bowling did see some changes through the series but again we are talking about experienced bowlers here, so Kohli probably did not mind switching them around.
The biggest success of the series was Kuldeep Yadav. It was nice to see him play all the games in the series.
The young wrist spinner gave a good account of himself and bowled extremely well in all the games. Ashwin and Jadeja shared the other spot and did reasonably okay in the games they played.
The series could have been used to experiment with some young batsmen in the line up. Indian selectors also need to think about the future of some of these players in the current X1 and think about their availability for the 2019 World Cup.
Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni are on the wane and playing them for the next couple of years can be detrimental to the team’s development. The selectors also need to be mindful of Kedar Jadhav and his role in the side.
Now that India have squandered the chance of selecting some young players for this series, they would find it difficult to experiment against stronger sides later this year.
This could have been a great platform for testing out someone like Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer in the line up to see how they perform at this level.
India’s FTP suggests that they have around 12 ODIs coming up later this year and I hope that the selectors approach those games with the World Cup in mind.
Yuvraj and Dhoni need to be spoken to regarding their future with the ODI team and a clear plan should be prepared for their exit and replacements.
It will be interesting to see how the selectors approach the upcoming series and the hope is always that a better squad will be selected.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
England's tour of India has ended in abject fashion as the tourists were hammered by an innings and 64 runs inside three days, with…
India have bowled England out for a below-par 218 and cruised to 1-135 in reply to seize early control of the fifth and final…
India have accomplished a nervy run-chase to secure a five-wicket victory against England in the fourth cricket Test in Ranchi. Chasing a modest 192…
In the build up to the India vs England Test series, there were reasonable predictions that India would be the ultimate challenge for Bazball.…
Until quite recently, you would look through an Indian Test XI and see experience everywhere: Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja with the…
Ben Stokes feels England were let down by technology at a crucial moment as they slipped to a series-levelling Test defeat against India -…
