Follow UsIndia are finally starting to make all the right moves in the shortest format of the game. Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and the guidance of Rahul Dravid, the players have been told what the management expects from them and they will get as many games as possible to get themselves ready for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
India are without KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah in the three-match T20I series against West Indies and once they return, the Men in Blue will become even more formidable. However, the onus will be on the team management to make sure they get their combination right.
West Indies were hammered 0-3 in the ODIs but were always expected to put up a better fight in the 20-over format, which they did on Wednesday (February 16), but it was still far from enough. Barring Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran, the West Indies batting unit once again failed to make an impact, while the bowling lacked discipline in Jason Holder's absence.
The pressure will now be on Kieron Pollard to lead from the front and keep the series alive when they come face to face against India in the second T20I at the Eden Gardens on Friday (February 18).
India forming a strong middle and lower-middle order
When it comes to T20 cricket, the idea of playing with six specialist batters and five frontline bowlers never works in the long run. Pick any successful T20 unit, you will find at least two to three multi-dimensional players in the set-up, giving the team enough depth in the batting and bowling departments.
The likes of Jadeja, Pandya and Washington are still not match-ready, but if you look at their T20I squad for the West Indies series, India have Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel and Shardul Thakur who can chip in both facets of the game.
The hosts still needed 44 off 33 deliveries when they lost their fourth wicket while chasing a target of 158 but they still had Suryakumar Yadav at the crease. The flamboyant right-hander from Mumbai smashed 34* off 18 deliveries and got India over the line with seven deliveries to spare. This is something he has been doing for his state and IPL franchise for years, and this time around, got good support from Iyer (13-ball 24*). The latter is used to batting up the order but has now been working on finishing games.
Pandya and Jadeja will return at some stage but having two of Thakur, Chahar and Harshal at 8 and 9 will give the top-order batters the freedom to bat more aggressively, something that Rohit (19-ball 40) did in the first game. Meanwhile, Pant hasn’t quite stamped his authority in T20Is but having him and Suryakumar in the middle-order gives India that much-required firepower and it could prove to be fruitful in the long run.
Bishnoi deserves a long run
The 21-year-old legspinner managed to make quite an impression on his debut, picking up two wickets at the expense of just 17 runs off his four overs. India went with two legspinners - Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi - in the first T20I but what made them click together is how different they are from each other. Chahal is one of your conventional legspinners, while Bishnoi is all about bowling googlies at a good pace. 22 of his 24 deliveries in the first game were googlies, out of which 16 were dots.
Also read - Ravi Bishnoi: A look into India’s T20I future
“We have to prepare ourselves with one eye on Australia. We have to keep ticking the boxes. Bishnoi is a very talented guy which is why we drafted him into the squad straightaway. We see something different in him. He's got a lot of variations and skillset with him," said Indian white-ball skipper Rohit. Bishnoi is someone who can extract good bounce off any surface and could prove to be very lethal in Australia.
Pollard needs to take more responsibility
The West Indies captain sent Akeal Hosein ahead of him in the first encounter and the move clearly backfired as the latter could only manage 10 off 12 deliveries. Pollard walked in to bat at No. 7 and scored 24* off 19 deliveries and found it tough to get going against Chahal and Bishnoi. In T20Is since 2019, Pollard averages 36.81 and has a strike rate of 145 and should clearly be giving himself as many deliveries as possible. Pooran (43-ball 61) smashed a superb half-century but the wicketkeeper-batter will have to be a lot more consistent if he wants to continue to bat at No. 3.
In the bowling department, West Indies missed the experience of Holder, who missed the first T20I because of a niggle. The tall paceman was player of the series against England, and in his absence, Rohit and Co. had little trouble dealing with the likes of Sheldon Cottrell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith and Hosein. Roston Chase was the only one who troubled Indian batters with his offspin, registering figures of 2/14. If Holder is still not ready, the visitors could give left-arm quick Dominic Drakes and legspinner Hayden Walsh some game time.
Probable XIs
India - Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar/Shardul Thakur, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal.
West Indies - Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell, Kieron Pollard (c), Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein/Hayden Walsh, Odean Smith, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell/Dominic Drakes.