No big draw, ODI showdown with West Indies critical for Team India's World Cup selection

In isolation, a One-Day International series against West Indies doesn’t appear the most mouth-watering proposition. After all, just earlier this month, the two-time former champions failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup for the first time in the tournament’s history, defeats to Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and Scotland a true indication of where they stand as an ODI outfit.

Yet, India’s three matches in the Caribbean over the next week assume significance simply because this is the beginning of the final phase of audition before the 15-member squad for the home World Cup, from October 5 to November 19, is picked. Between Thursday, when they meet the Caribbeans in Bridgetown, and October 8, when they kick off their campaign for a third World Cup title against Australia in Chennai, Rohit Sharma’s men have a maximum of 12 outings to get their act together and carry form, momentum and confidence into the 10-team quadrennial showpiece event of the 50-over format. It’s precisely for this reason that this showdown, as well as the Asia Cup in August-September, will assume greater import than normal.

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Bumrah, Iyer back in reckoning

India’s final 15 is certain to include personnel beyond the 17 named for the West Indies series. Fitness permitting – and given the medical bulletin that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released in a pleasant surprise last week, there is cause for optimism – Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer should walk into the mix with KL Rahul only marginally behind in the selection stakes. Mohammed Shami, rested across formats for the Caribbean adventure, too is a certain selection for the World Cup. As such, for the larger party that is gearing up for battle in the Caribbean, the stakes are high, the context massive. It is in how these ‘fringe’ players acquit themselves that the greatest interest will be centred.

More than anyone else, it’s the two wrist-spinners who will garner attention. It was with an eye on the 50-over World Cup in England four years ago that India did away with the successful R Ashwin-Ravindra Jadeja spin combine in 2017, uniting Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in a bid to unleash attacking, wicket-taking options in the middle stages of an ODI innings. KulCha had their moments in the two years leading up to the World Cup, Kuldeep’s left-arm wrist spin and Chahal’s orthodox right-arm leg-spin setting up many a stirring triumph. They weren’t at their best when push came to shove, though. While Chahal did pick up 12 wickets in eight matches, his economy was an unflattering 5.97; Kuldeep’s six sticks in seven games were somewhat offset by an economy of 5.02, but as a collective, they didn’t have the same impact as expected, leading to the dismantling of KulCha as India searched for alternatives.

That the two are back in the reckoning four years on, and Jadeja is as integral a part of the equation as then, points to the paucity of bankable options for the selectors to dip into. From a larger perspective, that’s worrisome but in the immediate context, with neither ‘wristie’ particularly adept with the bat, it’s crucial that one of them is identified as the first choice, assuming both make the final cut.

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The middle overs are when a 50-over innings meanders, most batting teams knocking the ball around and waiting for the last ten overs for a final flourish and the fielding unit content to protect the boundaries whilst slipping into a defensive mode. To have at least one potent threat with the ball therefore lends a cutting edge India have struggled to summon in recent times. Kuldeep and Chahal are beneficiaries of the TINA (There is No Alternative) factor; if one or both can make the most of it, it will ease the burden to a huge extent on Rohit’s overworked shoulders.

Conundrum behind the stumps

The presence in the squad of Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan, both listed as wicketkeepers, is an interesting conundrum. With Rishabh Pant still recuperating from his horror road accident and the jury out on the rehabbing Rahul, there is all to play for. Kishan’s left-handedness is a plus, but he has made most of his international limited-over runs at the top of the order where there is a logjam with Rohit and Shubman Gill occupying the openers’ slots and Ruturaj Gaikwad snapping at their heels. Samson is infinitely more experienced but for all the cloying adulation his skills have elicited, he has been exasperatingly inconsistent.

Whether Rahul is back in contention will depend largely on how these two ball-strikers acquit themselves. Intriguingly, for all his travails as an opener in Test and T20I cricket, Rahul has been a fantastic middle-order destroyer in the 50-over game whenever he has kept wicket. In 18 matches in that role, he has amassed 779 runs at an average of 55.65 and a strike-rate of 97.61, both significantly higher than his numbers across a career of 54 games (45.13 and 86.57 respectively).

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The next week could also be make-or-break for Suryakumar Yadav, the executor of outrageous strokes in 20-over cricket but who has found the 50-over mystery a lot harder to crack. Twenty-one ODI innings have yielded just two half-centuries and an unedifying average of 24.1. With bountiful resources dotting the middle-order landscape, the Mumbaikar is running out of time to make a pressing case for himself. Why the 32-year-old is unable to crack the ODI puzzle is hard to fathom; after all, he has more time to play himself in compared to the T20 version, or maybe that really is his problem because he feels a need to be a little more conservative. Greater role-clarity and a less obfuscated sense of purpose could do the trick, though his recent form (admittedly in red-ball cricket) is ordinary – he has scores of 8, 4, 7 and 52 in his last four digs.

The inclusion of tearaway Umran Malik in a pace attack that also boasts the exceptional Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur should ramp up the excitement quotient. Malik can be expensive but is a match-winner because his searing pace is an X-factor India haven’t always been able to summon. It is incumbent upon the team management to allow him the freedom to express himself because the potential for damage he possesses is beyond immense.

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