West Indies vs India 2019: An analysis of India's T20I squad

Just one glance at India’s T20I squad for the West Indies tour indicates that the team management has begun preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup which is scheduled to be held in Australia.

There are eight new faces in the squad compared to the squad that India chose when they last played T20Is - versus Australia before the World Cup, and even before the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The likes of Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Navdeep Saini and the Chahar brothers have been given a nod. Washington Sundar and Khaleel Ahmed also find themselves in the 15-member squad.

Contrary to the reports, Virat Kohli is not being rested and will in fact captain India for the whole tour. Shikhar Dhawan has recovered from the finger injury which he suffered during the World Cup and is set to partner Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.

Hardik Pandya has been rested and MS Dhoni has made himself unavailable for selection. Dhoni anyway seems unlikely to be in the scheme of things for the T20 World Cup in 2020.

The addition of Iyer and Pandey and the presence of Rishabh Pant will add dynamism to the middle-order, which in recent years has been an area of concern for India.

Shreyas Iyer

Iyer was the 9th highest run-scorer during IPL 2019 and he led his team Delhi Capitals into the qualifiers. Meanwhile, Pandey is back in the team, again, owing to a good IPL season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He scored 344 runs at an average of 43 and strike-rate of 130.80, with six fifties in 12 innings.

Here, Shubman Gill could be considered unlucky to miss out as he has been in decent touch over the last few months.

Both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are rested for the T20I leg of the tour. In their absence, 19-year-old Rahul Chahar will get an opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the team in the future.

Chahar was impressive during the IPL where he played a key role in Mumbai Indians’ victorious campaign. He picked up 13 wickets from 13 matches.

Rahul Chahar

Mayank Markande, who debuted against Australia before the IPL, was overlooked.

The presence of Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar will bolster the lower middle-order. India’s lower order has lacked depth in recent years but this time there are sufficient bowling all-rounders who can fill the void.

With Jasprit Bumrah rested, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini will get a longer run in the playing XI. All three have very good IPL and domestic records. Among Indian players, Deepak Chahar was the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2019, followed by Khaleel.

Overall, the selectors have shown a vision for the 2020 T20 World Cup and done a good job by picking a string of T20 specialists.

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