The Rohit Sharma led Indian men’s cricket team swatted aside the challenge from West Indies with relative ease, despite a few scary moments, in the T20 series at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, winning 3-0.
After a disappointing 2021 T20 World Cup campaign, India, with a new leader and management, have won six games on the bounce, seeing off New Zealand and West Indies with identical scorelines.
India have started the journey towards the next T20 World Cup, later this year, in Australia well. India, who have played T20s at home only since the World Cup last year, is still a way off finalising their playing XI for the show piece event in Australia. Conditions will be different and it will play a big role in finalising the way forward.
Captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid saw most of the check boxes ticked off in the series against the West Indies, including defending totals, something India weren’t too used to previously.
Here are some of the talking points from the India-West Indies T20 series
Venkatesh Iyer
The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder was back home at the Eden Gardens, and had a merry time. The all-rounder made impressive contributions with the bat in all three games, scoring at good clip, and also stepping up with two crucial wickets in the final game, especially with the hosts being a bowler short.
In the last two T20s, Iyer’s knocks were important as it helped India cross the 180-mark, against a big hitting WI. With the ball, he picked the big wickets of Jason Holder and Kieron Pollard, to all but secure the game.
While Hardik has been away, Iyer has not disappointed in the India colours, putting up his hand with impactful performances, and providing a solution as the team builds up to the World Cup.
Him making the cut eventually depends on a lot of other factors, one being the availability of Hardik Pandya, but having Iyer as a backup, on the basis of the performances so far, can only augur well for the Indian team.
Suryakumar Yadav
Image: BCCI
Suryakumar Yadav
After scoring bag fuls of runs in domestic cricket and in the IPL, and having started off his international career with a jaw-dropping six of Jofra Archer in Ahmedabad, Suryakumar Yadav has gone from strength to strength.
Suryakumar has adapted to whatever situation has been thrown at him with great aplomb, as exquisitely as some of his strokes. Important contributions with the bat in the first and third T20 marked his series, with the half century in the final game pulling the team out of a spot of bother.
Such has been Suryakumar’s assured impact since breaking into the team, that he has kept Shreyas Iyer, recently appointed as KKR’s captain, out of the eleven. Not for once would an on-looker think that the Mumbai Indians man is new to the international arena.
Calm and collected at the crease, Surya rarely seems to put a foot wrong and has very quickly become one of the bankable finishers in the team. That he can move around the batting order also adds flexibility, something the coach has noted as essential.
Harshal Patel
Image: BCCI
Bowling Steps Up
The experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled out his best deliveries in a while as he helped clinch the series with a fantastic 19th over in the second game. Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell had stunned one and all with a brutal counter-attack, before Bhuvi stepped up and sealed the deal, using all his experience to thwart the WI challenge. 29 was needed off two overs and Bhuvi conceded 4 along with picking a wicket in the first of those 6 deliveries, effectively closing out the game.
And while it was Bhuvi in the second game, Harshal Patel and Shardul Thakur helped wrap up things in the final game, sharing the wickets between themselves, including the dangerous Pooran, who scored three half centuries in as many games. Harshal, who is known for his accuracy in the final phase, showed why he’s got the reputation with some tight bowling and an inch perfect yorker to Roston Chase.
Having to field second, India’s spinners had a tough time in the last two games and the pacers duly stepped up. Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi though had done their bit too in the series, as the youngster finished with the best economy rate for India. In the absence of regular frontline bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, India’s bowlers put up a fine showing, which would no doubt please the team management.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Image: BCCI
Flexible Batting Line-up
In the absence of KL Rahul, India had a chance to experiment with the batting order and try out something new at the top of the order. Up the line-up went Ishan Kishan, who had a scratchy series, and Rohit took it upon himself to be the aggressor, looking to set the tone of the innings.
And while Rohit’s change of ploy was one change, India used Rishabh Pant at four a couple of times, while the skipper too was happy to move down the order when the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer needed more time in the middle.
A Rohit Sharma looking to attack from the word go could spell a lot of danger for opposition bowlers, as could the flexibility.
The change in batting order was quite refreshing and points towards a change of approach, something that has been needed in the shortest format.
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