With the T-20 World Cup arriving in about 3 months’ time, the Indian think-tank does not have much time to decide the players who can take the flight to Australia. Some players like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah happen to be automatic picks for the all-important tournament. But there is a certain degree of uncertainty with regard to the middle order batters and the spin bowling options. So, today we will discuss the three players for whom the upcoming T-20 series in West Indies is going to be the last chance to prove their worth as team members. Let us find out who they are.
Shreyas Iyer
The Mumbai lad came into the Indian squad on the basis of his performances in the domestic games and the IPL. However, Iyer has only flattered to deceive so far and he is yet to cement his place in the side despite getting decent enough chances since last year. Overall, he has had a good record in the T-20 format with a batting average of 57 and strike rate of 150, but his inability to deal with shot-pitched deliveries is very much apparent to every team in the world cricket right now and on Australian surfaces, the weakness can easily be exploited to the advantage of the rival team. So, some ordinary outings in Windies would only make him unsuitable for the upcoming major ICC title this year. Therefore, Iyer does not have much time to iron out his weakness.
Rishabh Pant
This name in the list is very surprising considering the “Midas touch” he has acquired currently. But, his place in the T-20 squad came under heavy scrutiny in the recently-concluded South Africa series where he got out cheaply in similar manners in all the four matches that he featured in. This apart, there is also a line of thinking that he is more suitable for the Test and ODI formats and someone else, such as Ishan Kishen or Sanju Samson, should be groomed as the wicket-keeping batsman in the shortest format. Hence, he needs to carry his current form into the T-20 series against West Indies to silence those who feel he is unsuitable for the slam-bang version of cricket.
Ravichandran Ashwin
It is indeed sad to see the name of 2nd best bowler in Test cricket on the list of improbable. The Tamil Nadu tweaker only started featuring in the shortest format since India’s disastrous T-20 campaign in the UAE. Even afterwards, he has featured only in a couple of T-20 matches, and the Caribbean assignment happens to be his first in the shortest format for Team India this year. Most importantly, it’s not his performance but fitness that has kept him on the sidelines across the formats for a while. So, apart from good showing with the ball and the bat, Ravi Ashwin needs to prove that at the age of 35, his body is strong enough to survive the rigours of T-20 games.
