India strolled home in Friday’s series opener at Tarouba in Trinidad even though they couldn’t quite play their ‘A’ game. With the action now moving on to Basseterre for back-to-back matches on Monday and Tuesday, India would certainly be looking to brush up a few areas of their game and beat the West Indies in both these contests, which would help them wrap up the five-match T20I series as well.
Coming close to beating India in the first two one-dayers, the Windies were expected to be more competitive in what is their favourite format. But they couldn’t even challenge the visitors in the opening T20I, which Rohit Sharma and his men won comfortably by 68 runs.
Put in to bat, India’s progress had slowed down a little bit after the halfway mark. But thereafter, with Dinesh Karthik’s cameo (41 not out) propelling their total to 190, almost nothing went the Windies’ way.
India’s bowling attack, even in the absence of regulars like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal, did a fine job. All three spinners — left-armer Ravindra Jadeja, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and young leggie Ravi Bishnoi — made good use of the tricky Tarouba pitch, while inept display by the Windies batters also lessened the pressure on them.
Some credit should also go to left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, who had to wait for some time after an impressive debut in England. The 23-year-old did well to vindicate the team management’s faith in him, striking twice and not giving away too many runs in his four overs.
Arshdeep will obviously come across better and stronger batting line-ups moving forward. But one has to acknowledge the effort he put in returning to the XI after three weeks and adapting to conditions he wasn’t familiar with.
Whether India tinker with the winning combination looking at the conditions at Wardner Park in Basseterre is up to the team management. But it wouldn’t be fair if the axe falls on Arshdeep in order to accommodate another young pacer.
Batting order
The totals India have managed to post lately have been impressive and formidable in most cases. Yet, there are areas where they may need to work a little bit in terms of their batting.
They seem to be in the search of an ideal opening partner for Rohit till KL Rahulreturns. Suryakumar Yadav was promoted upfront for that role and scored 24 off 16 balls. Not to say that Suryakumarfared poorly, but he has been much more effective at No.4.
In spite of being tipped as a good choice for the opening slot, Rishabh Pant was slotted at that No.4 position in the first T20I. Such frequent tinkering with his position may go on to disturb the rhythm of the wicketkeeper-batsman, which wouldn’t bode well for the team.
Speaking of Shreyas Iyer, not just short-pitched stuff, even good, tight bowling seems to be troubling him of late. The manner of his dismissal on Friday (perishing at slip-off a pitched-up delivery from ObedMcCoy) suggests so.
The average first innings total in T20Is in Basseterre is128, which means conditions aren’t batsmen-friendly there. However, there is a possibility of a fresh pitch being in use for Monday's game.
But irrespective of the conditions, it would be wise on the part of the Indian team management if Deepak Hooda is brought back in the XI.
Match starts: 8pm IST.Live on FanCode & DD Sports
