With Cricket World Cup 2015 just months away, the home is really important for the Indian team as this would be the last home series before the team leaves for Australia for a tri-series against Australia and England, followed by the all important Cricket World Cup 2015.
Kaushik Narayanan looks at the 3 major talking points from Team India’s squad for the home series against West Indies.
Murali Vijay over Robin Uthappa
Murali Vijay is a failed ODI cricketer and he hasn’t done anything significant in the shorter format to earn this call. Vijay, though has been scoring runs in Test cricket, but in the ODIs, he averages 19.46 in 14 matches. On the other hand, Robin Uthappa has been in a good run-scoring for post the IPL7, and many were expecting him to be in the squad for this series after he scored consistently in the recently concluded Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20). This is a move that hasn’t gone down well with many Indian fans as they are expecting to see Robin Uthappa in the World Cup 2015 squad.
Picking Kuldeep Yadav is a very brave by the selectors
India’s only Chinaman bowler first made waves in the Under 19 WC, and then impressed one and all with his tricky variations and intelligence in the CLT20 2014. Playing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Yadav bowled brilliantly throughout the tournament, and this is a very brave move by the selectors to give him a chance so early in his career. Yadav can be really slippery with his variations, and can bowl the chinaman, the wrong’un, a flipper, a slider and a faster one.
Is it Curtains for the senior-pros?
The likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh are no where in the scene at the moment, as far as India’s World Cup 2015 squad is concerned. The inclusion of players like Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay and Kuldeep Yadav, clearly suggests that selectors are not giving any preference to “seniority” or “experience”. This will force these senior-pros to take the domestic season seriously and perform well, as Team India’s Director has made it clear that the prime importance will be given to form.
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image source: ESPNCRICINFO
