It was quite a comfortable win for India – though 5 wickets down wouldn’t suggest that – in the first ODI against West Indies on Thursday in Barbados as they took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
After Rohit Sharma elected to bowl first pacers Hardik Pandya, debutant Mukesh Kumar, and Shardul Thakur, all three took one wicket each before the two spinners – left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav – wreaked havoc over the hosts sharing 7 wickets between them and bowling the hosts out for 114.
Rohit and Kohli demoted themselves giving an opportunity to others. Kishan blasted a fifty while other batters failed to grab their chances. Rohit came in at number 6 to complete the chase in 23 overs.
This is a series of giving opportunities to the fringe players. Some of whom were on the bench, consigned to carrying drinks by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.
Here are 3 big-name players who were dropped by Rohit Sharma from 1st ODI vs WI:
Sanju Samson
The rotten luck of Sanju Samson continued as he was excluded from the 1st ODI, despite Sanju Samson having a stunning 2022 in ODIs with the bat: in 9 ODI knocks last year, Sanju scored 284 runs, remaining unbeaten 5 times, at an average of 71 and with a strike rate of 105, playing the perfect role of a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings as well as finish with fireworks. His best score came against a quality South African bowling attack – that of 86* off 63 balls, almost finishing a big chase.
Instead, India went with Ishan Kishan as the wicket-keeper. One key reason for that was Ishan being a left-hander in a rather right-handed dominated Indian top-order. Rohit himself sacrificed his opening spot for Kishan, who justified India’s choice by scoring 52 runs off 46 balls on a spin-friendly track where almost all other batters struggled.
Kishan is unlikely to be now dropped – he’s being prepared as a backup opener and keeper – so Samson would get a chance in this series if Suryakumar Yadav is dropped.
Yuzvendra Chahal
The Kul-Cha pair has been broken since the 2019 World Cup and both Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have featured together in only 3 ODIs since the 2019 WC ended. With Jadeja being one spinner for sure, India picked Kuldeep as the second spinner – the wrist-spinner – in the 1st ODI vs West Indies over Chahal.
Kuldeep returned with stunning figures of 3-2-6-4 which included the dismissal of the West Indies captain Shai Hope, his side’s highest-scorer, while the other three were wickets of tailenders.
After losing his place in the side after 2019, Kuldeep seems to be getting back his mojo this year: in 9 ODIs in 2023, Yadav has taken 19 wickets at a terrific average of 17, which is his best bowling average in a year in his ODI career of about 7 years now.
Chahal, on the other hand, hasn’t really made huge noises in ODIs, despite his IPL success in last two seasons. Since the start of 2022, Chahal has taken 24 wickets in 14 outings at a good average of 27. However, Kuldeep brings the X-factor of a left-arm wrist-spinner with him and at the moment seems to be edging ahead of Chahal.
Axar Patel
It was quite a big shock, and left disappointment, among the fans that Axar Patel, who is in the form of his life with the bat, wasn’t picked for the 1st ODI in Barbados, despite the pitch known to be assisting slower bowlers.
Even though Axar has similar qualities to Jadeja, he has upped both his batting and bowling levels significantly in the past two years and deserves a spot in the line-up. Since the start of 2022, Axar averages 33 with the bat and 31 with the ball in ODIs. Given the nature of the pitch and how the first ODI panned out, Axar might get a place in the 2nd ODI in place of either Mukesh or Umran or Shardul.
