While selecting the India squad for West Indies ODI series, the BCCI selectors will find themselves in a position they have rarely been put in the past: the men’s Indian cricket team will be in action across two different series on two different continents in two separate formats virtually simultaneously in the coming weeks.
Following the completion of the ongoing India vs Afghanistan T20I series on September 17, the Shreyas Iyer-led T20I team will fly out to Japan for the Asian Games, which will be preceded by a one-off first-ever T20I against hosts Japan.
The Indian men’s team has directly qualified for the quarter-finals of the Asian Games, and their first knockout match of the tournament is scheduled for September 28. India are expected to proceed through to the semi-final, which will be played on October 1, and the gold and bronze matches are slated for October 3, where India are all but certain to appear.
The Asian Games will directly coincide with the IND vs WI ODI series, which will begin on September 27, with the next two matches scheduled for September 30 and October 3.
Asian Games-bound players to miss the India vs West Indies ODI series:
There are a number of players who are part of the Asian Games squad and have also recently featured in the ODI series in England and against Afghanistan prior to that.
The players who will be unavailable for the India vs West Indies ODI series because of the Asian Games are Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Among the injured players out of contention for the West Indies ODIs are Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana.
The India vs West Indies series will see the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to international cricket for the first time since July’s ODI series in England.
The BCCI has some options already chalked up as replacements. Firstly, the top three of captain Shubman Gill, Rohit, and Kohli are set in stone. Ruturaj Gaikwad is expected to fill in at No. 4 in Iyer’s absence, while KL Rahul is the keeper-batsman in the side.
With Kishan in Japan, the selectors are expected to pick one or both of Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel as Rahul’s back-up; both players will also be batting backups for middle-order roles.
Axar’s replacement is expected to be Ravindra Jadeja, who was not picked for the ODIs in England. Spin-bowling all-rounders Harsh Dubey and Shahbaz Ahmed are both reportedly injured. The selectors could also make a punt on Krunal Pandya following his impressive performances for RCB in the last two IPL seasons.
Meanwhile, a major hole in the side will be that of a seam-bowling all-rounder: Pandya is not fit for ODIs yet, and both Dube and Reddy are part of the India squad for the Asian Games.
In Bumrah and Arshdeep’s absence, India’s pace attack could be spearheaded by Mohammed Siraj with Prasidh Krishna in support. The other options available are Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, and Ashok Sharma.
Kuldeep Yadav is the likeliest frontline spinner, and the selectors could either fall back to Yuzvendra Chahal owing to his terrific show for Northamptonshire in England’s domestic cricket in recent months or give an opportunity to 20-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder Vipraj Nigam.
It would be interesting to see whether the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel includes Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad. The left-hander was left out of the England ODIs despite hitting two centuries in his last three ODI outings.
IND vs WI: India Squad For West Indies ODI Series – Predicted
- Shubman Gill (C)
- Rohit Sharma
- Virat Kohli
- KL Rahul (wk)
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
- Rishabh Pant (wk)
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Mohammed Siraj
- Prasidh Krishna
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Gurnoor Brar
- Prince Yadav
- Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- Yuzvendra Chahal/Vipraj Nigam
- Yashasvi Jaiswal/Ashok Sharma
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