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.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
India has never been a great T20 team. We have always lacked in this format after the win in 2007. No one can forget the embarrassment that was the 2009 T20 WC in England.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yup, no point in playing Jadeja, Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan in T20's. India need to do what they did in 2007 when they completely revamped the T20 side. That is what is required now. An overhaul of both ODI and T20 teams needs to happen.
Rats
Guest
at least pick youngsters for T20s... Indian selectors simply don't care. same old ashwins, jadejas, in T20s as well.. while all other international teams invest on youth in T20s. have a look at the Eng and SA squads in the recently concluded T20 series. We may have still lost.. but at least can feel satisfied that it was learning experience for youngsters..
Savage
Roar Rookie
Even wi coach is taking dig saying india should've scored 240.Regardless,india will never learn.One of our indian commentator was talking yesterday like india are greatest T20 team in the world while facing current world t20 champion west indies.he should've realised that this WI team unlike in odi series had gayle,pollard,narine,badree,C brathwate .
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Kuldeep outbowled both Ashwin and Jadeja in the T20 game. I hope the selectors realise that these two aren't good enough for the the shorter format anymore. I hope the KH Pandya and Chahal are selected in the place of these two for the upcoming SL tour. SL have been really poor, they have lost 2 games to Zimbabwe, we should try and experiment a little with the team there.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Agree. Pant did play in the T20 game and did not do that well. But again we cannot hold it against the youngster. The guy is just 19 and I hope that he isn't discarded. Batsman like him needs to be in the ODI side and not in T20 and needs to be backed irrespective of his showing in the T20 game.
Savage
Roar Rookie
Considering rahane is still in our team so pant exclusion was no shock to me.rishabh pant will definitely play t20 match against west indies.Hopefully he does well,as india desperately need dynamic player like him in the team.Biggest(infact only) positive of this odi series was kuldeep yadav and how he exposed our overhyped spinners jadeja and Ashwin.
Savage
Roar Rookie
"India’s Champions Trophy campaign was a good one" i'm not sure about that.this was by far our worst icc tournament(including t20's wc and ct) since 2011 wc.They were badly humilated by 7th and 8th rank team.winning 3 matches out of 5 without facing any favourites(england and australia) is no big deal.In 50 overs tournament since 2011 wc,india have won 19 and lost 2(excluding champion's trophy 2017) which is way better than any other team,so you expect better performance.though,you can say they overachieved by reaching final considering how woeful they have been in odi's since 2015 wc.