India vs West Indies T20I series: Positives and downsides for Team India

Team India completed a clean sweep of the three-match T20I series against the West Indies. In the third T20I at Chennai, India managed to beat West Indies by six wickets, off the very last ball of the match.

In this article, let us analyse the positives and downsides for Team India in the recently concluded series.

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Positives

#1 Encouraging form of the openers

Rohit and Dhawan in good form is good news for Team India

Both Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan showed encouraging form with the bat in the entire series. Though both Rohit and Dhawan failed in the first match at the Eden Gardens, they got going at Lucknow with a first wicket partnership of 123 runs.

Dhawan, after a prolonged lean patch, came back to form at Lucknow and scored 43. Rohit scored his record 4th T20I hundred at a strike rate of 182 which took the game and the series out of the Windies' reach.

After an early departure of Rohit at Chennai, Dhawan took upon himself to finish the match for India with a match-winning 92 off 62 balls lashed with 10 fours and 2 sixes.

Dhawan finished the series with 138 runs at an average of 46. His opening partner Rohit Sharma ended up with 119 runs at an average of 60.

Rohit once again displayed his competent leadership acumen in the entire series.

#2 The emergence of Khaleel Ahmed and Krunal Pandya

Both Khaleel and Krunal had a decent debut series

Both Khaleel Ahmed and Krunal Pandya made their respective debut in the series. Both had a decent outing.

In his debut match at Kolkata, Khaleel impressed everyone with his bowling figures of 4-1-16-1. In the second match at Lucknow, he removed both the West Indies openers Shai Hope and the dangerous Hetmyer cheaply and finished with figures of 4-0-30-2.

Khaleel was equally impressive to both the right-handers and the left-handers. With his clever change of pace, he never allowed the batsmen to get on top of him.

In his debut match at Eden Gardens, Krunal Pandya gave away 10 runs in his first over. Pollard hit him over his head for a six. However, Pandya had his revenge when he removed his Mumbai Indian teammate in his next over. After a poor first over, the left arm spin bowler came back well conceding just 5 runs in his next 3 overs.

Again, chasing a modest target of 110 for a win, India were in a spot of bother at 83 for 5 needing 27 more to win. Pandya came in and played a cameo of 21 off 9 balls with 3 fours to finish off the match for India in the 18th over.

In the second match at Lucknow, Krunal bowled a tight spell in the middle-overs conceding 23 runs in his 4 overs.

The emergence of young guns in Khaleel Ahmed and Krunal Pandya augurs well for the future.

#3 The promise showed by Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant

Pant and Kuldeep - The exuberance of youth on display

Kuldeep Yadav deservingly got the man-of-the-series award. In the first T20I, Kuldeep ran through the West Indies middle-order claiming the wickets of Darren Bravo, Rovman Powell and skipper Carlos Brathwaite. None of the Windies batsmen were able to pick the variations of Kuldeep as he finished with figures of 4-0-13-3.

In the second T20 match, at the end of his third over, Kuldeep had figures of 2 for 13 before being taken for 19 runs in his last over. But, by that time, he had done the damage.

Kuldeep remained a mystery to all the West Indies batsmen right through the series.

Rishabh Pant failed in the first two matches of the series. More than his failure, it was his manner of dismissals that was disappointing. In both the matches, Pant got out going for the big hit too early in his innings before getting used to the wicket.

In the third match, India were chasing a difficult target of 182 for a win. Rohit Sharma and KL before departed before the end of powerplay overs. Pant was sent in at number 4 to accompany Dhawan.

This time around, Pant curbed his natural instincts to go for his shots at the beginning of his innings. Pant had scored 5 off 7 balls when Brathwaite came on to bowl his second over. The southpaw hit him for two fours in that over: a flat-batted heave over the bowler's head followed by a hook to fine leg.

Pant followed that up with three sixes, one each off Thomas, Pollard and Allen respectively. He reached his 50 off just 30 balls and was involved in a partnership of 130 runs for the third wicket with Dhawan.

Pant brought India close on to the doorsteps of victory before he got out to yet another disappointing stroke. But the form displayed by him in the third T20 match was a refreshing positive for Team India in the series.

Downsides of the series

#1 The incessant failures of Rahul and Manish Pandey in the middle-order

Pandey was scratchy with the bat in the series

Both Rahul and Manish Pandey had a disappointing series.

Rahul got a start in all the three matches but failed to make it big. He had a very good opportunity to prove himself in the first and third matches. Unfortunately, he failed in both the matches courtesy some loose shots.

With scores of 6,19,16,26 and 17 in his last 5 innings, Rahul’s place in the team is once again in jeopardy.

Manish Pandey too flattered to deceive. He scored 19 off 24 balls in the first match. He failed to stick around with Dinesh Karthik to earn a win for his team.

In the third match, it was Manish Pandey who took the game to the wire.

Pandey came in when India just required 7 off 10 balls. All Pandey had to do was to take a single and return the strike to Dhawan who was in his 90s. But he was not able to score even a single run off the first three deliveries of his innings.

The scenario put additional pressure on Dhawan which forced him to play a false stroke with the match still hanging in the balance. In the end, Pandey and India were saved by a misfield by bowler Fabian Allen off the last ball of the 20th over.

Like Rahul, Manish Pandey doesn’t bowl which diminishes his utility value to the team in T20 matches.

#2 The Blow hot, Blow cold performances of the fast bowlers

Except for Khaleel Ahmed, all the other Indian fast bowlers were all inconsistent. Umesh Yadav played in only one match and was clobbered for 36 runs in a low-scoring affair.

Both Bhuvi and Bumrah bowled well in tandem in the second match at Lucknow where they had the cushion of a big total. Bhuvi was expensive at Chennai where he gave away 39 runs without claiming any wicket. Bumrah, as always, was economical but took only three wickets in the first two matches.

Other than Khaleel, the Indian fast bowlers, by and large, had an ordinary series.

#3 The absence of the sixth bowler

India once again played with only five regular bowlers in the entire series. However, credit should be given to Rohit Sharma for rotating his limited bowling resources most effectively.

Going forward, playing with just five bowlers is a dangerous sign for India. The shortcoming was never going to be felt against a weaker team like the West Indies. However, this weakness might cost India dearly in the upcoming T20I series against Australia.

The absence of Hardik Pandya due to injury has upset the balance of the Indian team. To sort out the sixth bowler problem in the series against Australia, the Indians will have to make a minimum of two changes in the playing XI.

From the eleven which India fielded at Chennai, KL Rahul and Manish Pandey might have to make way for Virat Kohli and Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI for the upcoming series. Krunal Pandya and Washington Sundar might continue to be a part of the T20I playing XI.

Players like Suresh Raina or Kedar Jadhav in place of Washington Sundar would have given the team a better balance both in batting and bowling departments. However, since both of them are not in the squad for the Australia tour, India will have to manage with just five regular bowlers or a fragile batting line-up with Krunal at number 6 and Sundar at number 7. Both are equally dangerous options.

To sum up, India had their way against the depleted West Indies team. But Australia will be a different ball game altogether.