India Vs West Indies T20I series is not that far away and it’s going to be a vital series for India considering the fact that the next T20 World Cup, which is going to be played in Australia, is already on the horizon and many teams have started identifying their key players for the tournament.
India might have performed significantly well in the T20 bilateral series over a long period of time, but they have faltered consistently in the T20 World Cups and one of the reasons behind that is the lack of vision in the selection and picking wrong playing XI in important matches.
This is expected to be India’s playing XI for the first India Vs West Indies T20I game –
Openers (Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul)
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been opening the batting for India in the shortest format of the game for a long time and given their returns at the top of the order, tinkering with the opening combination is not something that the new Indian team management would do, going ahead.
Middle Order (Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer)
As Virat Kohli had taken a break for the New Zealand T20I series right after the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav batted at no. 3 for India and although he scored a couple of ducks in the last two games of the series, he is likely to retain his place in the XI. However, with Kohli coming back at no. 3, Suryakumar might have to bat at 4.
Rishabh Pant batted at no. 4 in the ODIs under new management in South Africa, but they had used him as a finisher in the T20I series against New Zealand, and that’s likely to be his role in the T20Is against West Indies as well. Pant will have to finish games with Venkatesh Iyer down the order.
Allrounders (Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel)
Rohit Sharma had hinted during the New Zealand series itself that he wants some batting depth for India in the shortest format of the game and it’s unlikely that India will look to drop any of the three allrounders that they picked right through the New Zealand series.
Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel are all very smart T20 bowlers, but they can also bat a fair bit and will occupy batting positions from 7 to 9.
Bowlers (Mohammed Siraj, Ravi Bishnoi)
Mohammed Siraj will be the strike bowler for India and will take the new ball with Deepak Chahar, while Ravi Bishnoi, who has been picked in the squad for the first time, might be preferred ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal as the specialist leggie. Bishnoi is a quickish leg spinner and apart from being a wicket-taking option, he can also stem the flow of runs.
