India vs West Indies ODIs: 3 big positives for Men in Blue

India’s ODI record at home was about to be stalled for a brief moment by a very impressive West Indies side before Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur managed to steer them home in the final match at Cuttack to seal the series 2-1.

The Men in Blue were in a spot of bother when chase master Virat Kohli, for once, was dismissed without taking the game past the finish line and at that stage, West Indies must have felt the game well within their grasp.

Even though the Windies lost, this was a closely fought series as India had to fight their way back after losing the first match at Chepauk in Chennai. This was also one of the very rare series in which captain Kohli failed to score a hundred (although he came very close to scoring one today).

Let's look at the three big positives for his men from this successful ODI campaign:

#1. KL Rahul’s consistency

KL Rahul

There always has been very little doubt about KL Rahul’s class but it was his consistency that was becoming a problem for the stylish right-hander. The Karnataka batsman made full use of the opportunity at the top of the order and his pairing with Rohit Sharma is ticking all the right boxes at the moment.

Rahul finished the series with 185 runs which included a hundred and a half-century, both of which came in a winning cause. He is a batsman who is pleasing on the eye and makes batting look so easy when in full flow.

It is now very difficult for the left-handed Shikhar Dhawan to make a comeback into this ODI side as Rahul has more or less sealed the spot with his consistency in the series. And with the kind of form he has been in lately, we don't see Indian fans having any problem with that!

#2. India’s pace bowling bench strength

Navdeep Saini

India’s bench strength with regards to pace bowling is getting better with every passing series. Let's not forget that Jasprit Bumrah has had to miss a few series due to his injury and there is no Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was once the go-to man in limited-overs cricket.

All of a sudden, Deepak Chahar has become the lead bowler with the new ball and with Mohammad Shami coming back to the fold in white-ball cricket, Kohli now has a lot of options to pick from in the ODIs.

Navdeep Saini was given a debut today after Chahar injured himself, and he made good use of the opportunity by picking 2-58 from his 10 overs, bowling at a good speed. Shardul Thakur was good with the new ball as well.

On paper, the bowling lineup for the third ODI looked very thin but performed better than their potential and in the end, restricted West Indies to a total which seemed slightly below par for the conditions.

#3. Shreyas Iyer's solid performance at No. 4

Shreyas Iyer

One of the key reasons behind the Indian team's semi-final loss at the 2019 World Cup was claimed to be the lack of a regular batsman at the No. 4 position. The answer to that seems to be Shreyas Iyer, who looked solid and a player exactly suitable to be batting at the position for the Men in Blue in the ODIs.

Even though he had a disappointing day, Iyer scored half-centuries in the previous two games, with both the knocks coming in contrasting conditions.

His 88-ball 70 at Chepauk in the first ODI was played on a slow, turning track while he smashed a 32-ball 53 in the second ODI on a very good batting wicket.

The most important quality in a good middle-order batsman in a 50-over contest is adaptability and Iyer seems to have that in abundance. The right-hander needs to be a regular feature for the Indian team in the days to come.