India vs West Indies 2019: 3 Indian cricketers who will be under scrutiny in the T20 series

With the Men's T20 World Cup less than a year away, the Indian team will be looking to try and identify their 15-man squad and ideal playing XI over the next few months. And with 11 T20Is scheduled before their opening game (apart from the Indian Premier League), the Men in Blue will be keen to identify specific players to fulfill the specific roles in their roster.

India play a three-match T20 series against the visiting West Indies this month, and that would be an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the players who haven't yet confirmed their place in the squad. Here's a look at 3 players who would be under particular scrutiny:

3. Kuldeep Yadav

After a stint out of the team, Kuldeep Yadav is set to make a comeback

Once an indispensable part of the Indian limited-overs set-up, Kuldeep Yadav finds himself fighting for a place in the team in the shortest format.

Kuldeep played his last T20I in February this year. A poor IPL coupled with the emergence of talents such as Rahul Chahar and Washington Sundar as well as the revival of Ravindra Jadeja have seen the Chinaman bowler pushed down the pecking order within the national set-up.

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Kuldeep will be hoping that this series, where he can potentially combine with his spin-twin Yuzuvendra Chahal again, will see him touch the heights of 2017 and 2018. If that does happen, he would be a shoo-in for a place in the 2020 tournament.

2. KL Rahul

With a strong 2019, KL Rahul will be looking to make the second opener's spot his own

With the injury of Shikhar Dhawan, all eyes will be on KL Rahul as he tries to make the opening spot his own before the beginning of the T20 World Cup.

The Karnataka-based opener is enjoying a stellar year. After a strong showing at the 50-over World Cup in England and a strong IPL, the stylish right-hander has just won the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament with Karnataka.

Rahul has scored 192 runs in six T20Is this year, with two half-centuries at an average of 38.40 and a strike rate of 134.26. He will be hoping to cement his position in the staring XI with a strong showing in the series against West Indies.

1. Rishabh Pant

This has been a difficult season for Rishabh Pant and he will be hoping to find some form

The weight of being MS Dhoni's successor can bring anyone down, and not many young cricketers have to come into the set-up with such a massive baggage of expectations. Yet, 22-year-old Rishabh Pant finds himself under the daily scrutiny of 1.3 billion critics, with opinion sharply divided on whether or not he should represent the Men in Blue at the highest level.

Pant started the year strong, with an unbeaten 159 in Australia (thus becoming the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a Test century down under) and finishing as the second-highest run-scorer for India in the tournament. He followed that up with a below-average limited-overs leg against New Zealand and Australia, but immediately mesmerized everyone with a fantastic IPL.

Pant's IPL showing earned him a call-up to the World Cup squad in England (as an injury replacement for Shikhar Dhawan). There he found himself in decent flow, but failed to convert his starts - scoring 32, 48, 4 and 32 in four innings.

Pant's form has seen a drastic dip since, as he has managed only one 50+ score in 14 innings. His glove-work and use of DRS have come under frequent criticism as well.

With Dhoni yet to take a decision on his retirement, and Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and K.S. Bharat breathing down his neck, this will be a make-or-break series for the Delhi Capitals stalwart in a bid to retain his limited-overs spot.