India vs West Indies 2019: 3 players India should have picked for the T20I series

The Indian selectors along with Indian skipper Virat Kohli met on Thursday to pick India's squad for the upcoming T20I and ODI home series against West Indies. The 'Men in Blue' are scheduled to host West Indies in a three-match T20I series, closely followed by the ODI outings.

The biggest talking point from India's squad selection is the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, alongside India's leg-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kohli will be returning as T20I skipper while his deputy Rohit Sharma, who was expected to be rested for the ODI series, has also been included.

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India have picked a full-strength team for the series, which is not a surprise. Considering the T20 World Cup next year, the team is likely to focus on playing a settled lineup in whatever games are remaining before the tournament.

India have picked Rishabh Pant as their only wicket-keeping option in both the ODIs and T20Is, as MS Dhoni continues to miss the limited-overs squad for unknown reasons.

While a few players have marked their return to the squad, the selection committee has also taken a few surprising decisions which might sound very harsh on a couple of players.

Here, we take a look at three players India should have picked for the T20I series against West Indies:

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#3 Rahul Chahar

Chahar's impressive performance in the IPL helped him earn a T20I call-up

Rahul Chahar, whose only T20I appearance came against West Indies in the Caribbean islands in August 2019, was a part of the T20I squad against South Africa and Bangladesh. However, the young leg-spinner didn't get any opportunity to showcase his talent on home soil.

He has now been replaced by Kuldeep Yadav in the T20Is. That seems quite harsh on the 20-year-old; he has practically been dropped without even breaking into the playing XI.

With the T20 World Cup in sight, India had an opportunity to groom a leg-spinner in conditions that generally don't suit spinners, especially with the amount of dew on Indian grounds. But unfortunately that's not going to happen in this series.

#2 Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill is one of the future stars of Indian cricket

The young Indian batting sensation Shubman Gill has also missed out on a possible selection for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies.

Gill, despite traveling with the Test team lately, has failed to earn a spot in the settled Indian line-up. However, there was always a case for his selection in the limited-overs format given the kind of command that he possesses even in the white-ball game.

The selectors could have considered Gill in place of one of the openers to try and see what the 20-year has to offer in T20s. However, India have instead shown confidence in their usual T20 suspects for the opening slot.

Though it will be tough for the Punjab batsman to break into India's top 3, he could have been tried in place of Shikhar Dhawan - who has been struggling for runs ever since his comeback from the injury he encountered in the World Cup fixture against Australia.

#1 Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson is too good a player to not play for India

The ever so graceful Sanju Samson made a return to the Indian team after a gap of five years during the T20I series against Bangladesh. But he didn't get an opportunity to feature in any of the games.

What is even more baffling is that the Kerala batsman has not been named in India's T20I squad for the series against West Indies.

It is quite harsh on Samson to be ousted from the squad without getting a fair chance in any of the games. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been plundering runs for fun in the domestic circuit, deserved another chance in the T20I squad. He would consider himself extremely unlucky at being ignored by the selectors.

India could have easily considered him as a back-up wicket-keeping option to Rishabh Pant, who himself has been short of runs in T20s. Samson's inclusion could have kept Pant on his toes, and possibly improved his productivity too.