India vs West Indies 2018: 4 Indian players who can consolidate their place in the team during ODI series

The Indians will be up against the West Indies in the first of the five one-day international series on Sunday at Guwahati.

The 14 individual members in the Indian squad will have different aspirations to pursue going into the one-day series against the West Indies.

The Indian top-order consisting of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli will aim to enhance their reputation and form.

For players like Manish Pandey, K.L. Rahul, and M.S. Dhoni, it should be a career-saving or bursting series.

For the newcomers Rishabh Pant and Khaleel Ahmed, this series would be a moment to prove to the selectors that they belong here.

For the comeback men Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav, this series would be a fresh prospect to impress upon the selectors.

That leaves the squad with 4 Indian players who, with their performances, can strengthen their place in the team during the one-day series against the West Indies.

Here is a list of those 4 Indian players.

---

#1. Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayadu has delivered whenever given a chance

Ambati Rayudu should owe his comeback to international cricket to IPL 2018. Based on his performances for the champions Chennai Super Kings, Rayadu was selected for the one-day series in England.

Unfortunately for him, he failed the mandatory yo-yo fitness test before the England tour. Rayudu had to wait for another 2 months before clearing the yo-yo test in his second attempt and getting selected for the Asia Cup.

In the absence of Virat Kohli in the Asia Cup, Rayudu got a wonderful opportunity to bat at No 3. He made use of that opportunity partially and scored 175 runs in 6 innings at an average of 44.

In the forthcoming one-day series against the West Indies, Rayudu is expected to bat at No 4. It will be another great opportunity for him to perform and consolidate his place in the team. In the absence of Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav, he is expected to have a long run in the series.

After his decent performances in the Asia Cup, Rayudu should have lesser pressure to perform instantaneously compared to KL Rahul and Manish Pandey. The Pant threat will be more on the other two players and MS Dhoni than on Rayadu.

The success in IPL 2018 has brought about a change in Rayudu’s style of batting. Nowadays, he is more aggressive and looks to win matches on his own. The good thing about him is that every time he has been given a chance due to the absence of some other key players, he has shown his utility to the team. But he has been in and out of the team due to no fault of his.

At 33, Rayudu has represented India in 40 ODIs only and scored 1230 runs at an average of 49. These are quite impressive figures. Now the time has come for him to make a long-lasting impact on what would be the second innings of his career.

#2. Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja - The multi-dimensional player

Ravindra Jadeja was originally not preferred for the one-day matches after Team India’s one-day series against the West Indies in West Indies during July 2017. He was out of the team for 15 months before the injury to Hardik Pandya midway through the Asia Cup led to the recall of Jadeja.

He made an immediate impact by claiming 4 wickets in his comeback game against Bangladesh and never looked back after that. In the final of the Asia Cup, Jadeja won the match for India with his bat along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Jadeja is coming into the one-day series against the West Indies after scoring his maiden Test century against the same opponent.

Against the West Indies, the home conditions should suit Jadeja both in bowling and batting. On the fielding front, Jadeja is arguably the best fielder in the current Indian team. He is in with a chance to surpass the great Kapil Dev’s record of 43 wickets in 42 matches against the West Indies.

Against the West Indies, Kapil Dev is at the top of the list with 43 wickets followed by Anil Kumble with 41 scalps. Jadeja’s tally against the West Indies at present stands at 29 wickets from 19 games. He needs another 15 wickets in 5 matches to surpass both the legends. A tough ask but knowing Jadeja’s intensity, he will definitely go for the record. The home wickets should help his cause.

In the batting department, Jadeja is just 38 runs away from 2000 runs in one-day internationals. He should reach this target hands down.

The West Indies one-day series should serve Jadeja to re-establish himself in the team as the number one all-rounder. In the absence of Hardik Pandya due to injury, he has got another lifeline to cement his place in the team.

#3. Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav - The "X-factor" for Team India

Wrist spin is a captivating art and Kuldeep Yadav has mastered it. Kuldeep relies on flight, dip and pace variation and has been successful in bamboozling the batsmen with his googlies. He is India’s mystery left arm wrist-spinner.

Kuldeep had a successful Asia Cup when he was the joint highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets. Even in the two Test matches against the West Indies, Kuldeep took 10 wickets. In the Test series, the West Indies batsmen were all at sea against him as they found him difficult to read.

In 29 one-day matches, Kuldeep has taken 58 wickets at an average of 2 wickets for every match which is a good strike rate. But the highlight is his economy rate which is 4.65. For a wrist-spinner, his economy rate is exceptional as wrist-spinners tend to be expensive.

With the West Indies team’s known traditional weakness against spin, Kuldeep Yadav is expected to improve his wickets tally in the one-day series. Kohli has a lot of confidence in his wicket-taking abilities. For Kohli, Kuldeep is an effective wicket-taking option in the middle overs and he is India’s “X-factor”.

Wrist spinners, when they land the ball in the right areas, are unplayable. In contrast, if they fail to do so, they will travel the distance. But Kuldeep has shown in his short career that he has the guts to absorb the pastings from the batsmen in his bargain to trade for their wickets.

Kuldeep should be looking forward to bowl to the fragile looking West Indies batting line-up.

#4. Yuzvendra Chahal

Chahal - Team India's wicket-taking option in the middle overs

Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin twin Yuzvendra Chahal is another player who would be anxious to consolidate his position in the team in the one-day series against the West Indies.

Compared to Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal had a quite Asia Cup where he took 6 wickets. The Asian batsmen who were quite adept to spin managed to get on top of his bowling. But Chahal has proved time and again that he could come back into the game even after the initial thrashing.

In the final of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh, he went for 19 runs in his first two overs. After that, he was taken out of the attack. But he came back strongly to finish with respectable figures of 1 for 31 in 8 overs.

In 31 one-day matches, Chahal has taken 51 wickets at a good economy rate of 4.68. Unlike Kuldeep, Chahal bowls flat and is a skiddy customer. He is a safe bowler to go to even in the first powerplay overs.

Kuldeep and Chahal have made use of the opportunities that have come their way. The results of their combined onslaughts have been quite remarkable. Now it is time for both the wrist-spinners to consolidate their place in the Indian team during the West Indies series.

The presence of Jadeja in the team would put additional pressure on Chahal to perform. With the World Cup just 8 months away, the team management is unsure whether to go in with 2 or 3 spinners to England. In case the team management decides to take the horses for courses approach, Chahal might be the casualty.

To Chahal’s credit, he is a confident cricketer who believes in his abilities. The presence of West Indies as the opposition should improve his chances of success. If anything, he should improve his fielding.

Chahal would be pleased to take as many wickets against the West Indies to boost his confidence and to improve his standing in the team.

With just 13 matches to go for India before the World Cup, this West Indies series with 5 matches assumes overriding importance for the above 4 players to strengthen their position in the team.