Daily Times

GUWAHATI: It is never good news for a series when the build-up talk is more around who is missing rather than who is playing. And we are not even talking about the Test series in Australia later this year. After tough tours of South Africa and England, India’s tryst with lack of competition is in full swing. The home Test series is done in six days, and they are now staring at a West Indies ODI side without Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Bravo brothers, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. For the health of international cricket, look as much at this West Indies series as at the Edgbaston Test between India and England earlier this year. India will not complain. There is every chance, though, that they might not get to work on their middle-order issues in this series. Those issues crop up only when the top order doesn’t bat through, and that usually happens in close contests. West Indies will have a big challenge to make that happen against a top order in which all three ODI giants will be looking to fill their boots. Don’t bet against records being broken. There could be double-centuries and some monstrous scores.

Spare a thought, though, for the West Indies captain Jason Holder. The losses all go against his name when unfortunately the best players in the islands can’t be available to play international cricket. The big guns came out during the World Cup qualifiers, but they are either on hire elsewhere right now or rusty and in a state of disrepair. While facing India’s slow wristspin will be a challenge for them, the likes of Shmiron Hetmeyer and Shai Hope should be able to give a better account of themselves against the white ball, especially if they catch India on a dew-laden evening. And it will take all that to make sure it is not one of the most one-sided ODI series in India.

In the spotlight: What a remarkable turnaround for Rishabh Pant, who not long ago was far far away from making himself an international career before the World Cup in 2019. Having played T20Is in the Nidahas Cup in Sri Lanka, he was left out of the limited-overs sides in favour of MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik. He was not even originally part of the India A first-class side on the shadow tour of England, which was used for selection hints. Then it emerged that Test regular Wriddhiman Saha had not recovered from his injury in time, and India hurriedly placed Pant in the unofficial Tests side and named him in the Test squad, back-up to Dinesh Karthik. Midway during the series, Karthik was dropped, and Pant – even though still a work in progress as a pure wicketkeeper – grabbed his chance with a hundred at The Oval, the first by an India wicketkeeper in England, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand. He followed it up with a pair of attacking 92s in the Tests against West Indies, and is now set to make his ODI debut with India continuing to look for a solution to their middle-order problems.

The last man to score an ODI hundred in India, Marlon Samuels, is the most experienced player in the West Indies squad. He will need to shepherd the young batting unit in their first challenge against the limited-overs spin of such good quality.

Team news: India have named Pant in a XII that includes six batsmen, Ravindra Jadeja as the allrounder and five other bowlers. In all likelihood, it will come down to choosing between Mohammed Shami and Khaleel Ahmed for the 11th place. Neither of the regular West Indies openers is here, which leaves them a big challenge. Kieran Powell should take up one of those slots even though he played in the middle order in their last ODI.

Squads:

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Mohammed Shami/Khaleel Ahmed.

West Indies (possible): 1 Sunil Ambris, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmeyer, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Devendra Bishoo, 11 Alzarri Joseph/Kemar Roach.

Published in Daily Times, October 21^st 2018.