With senior players rested, many Indian youngsters would want to put themselves in contention for showpiece event as ODI series v NZ begins today
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and India skipper Shikhar Dhawan (right) with the ODI series trophy at Eden Park. Pic/PTI
Copping a lot of flak for their archaic approach in T20Is, India are expected to turn a new leaf in a different format as it takes on New Zealand in a three-match ODI series, which will mark the start of preparations for next year’s World Cup.
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Team looking for direction
With five seniors—skipper Rohit Sharma, the talismanic Virat Kohli, team management’s favourite KL Rahul, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and No.1 ODI all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja not part of this series, the management can only get a rough idea in which direction the team would move.
Dhawan will be close to 38 during next year’s World Cup and in ODIs in the last two years, he has scored nearly 1000 runs. This is the only international format he plays. Since T20 got more precedence, his appearances has been pretty sporadic.
But to put things in perspective, both Kohli and Rohit have played one third of the ODIs that Dhawan played as they concentrated more on Tests and T20Is with World Test Championship and back-to-back T20 World Cups lined up.
In the meantime, Shubman Gill has shown his prowess as an ODI opener in a dozen of games he has played so far with an average of 57 plus and a strike-rate of 100 plus. But even in this format, Dhawan has been a cautious starter in Powerplays and then picked up pace. Team’s philosophy will be the main thing along with a decision whether the Delhi southpaw would be persisted for next one year with Rohit, Rahul and Gill also there.
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Rahul, Surya or Shreyas?
Rahul, in ODIs, has started batting down the order at times and Shreyas Iyer has been one of India’s consistent ODI players despite his problems with short ball. Suryakumar Yadav, who is in the form of his life can’t be dropped from the middle-order if he is fit to play. Sanju Samson, the phenomenal talent from Kerala, with his wide range of strokes can’t be ignored for a long time either and Deepak Hooda brings his all-round skills to the table.
In the bowling department, Deepak Chahar is expected to start and is likely to have the seasoned Shardul Thakur for company. Arshdeep Singh is likely to be the third option but he has been constantly playing so there could be a chance to check out Kuldeep Sen or Umran Malik. The flip side is the short ground so their pace could become a disadvantage.Washington Sundar could be the sole spinner in the eleven.
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