CHENNAI: It ended the way everyone expected it to, a small twist here and there notwithstanding.
Yes, West Indies did show a spine in Visakhapatnam and Pune. But making a mockery of a 326-run chase, inflicting on the opposition their second-worst ODI defeat, and closing out a match 45 minutes before the scheduled first-half interval sums up the difficulty level India were up against over the last fortnight.
There were takeaways. Ambati Rayudu seems to have filled up an important batting slot. Khaleel Ahmed’s good outings raised hopes in India’s hunt for a left-arm seamer. Ravindra Jadeja seems to be back in his white-ball zone. Virat Kohli is doing what he does best. So is Rohit Sharma.
Putting these trinkets together, though, begets a question; one with emphasis on the World Cup. Are these five matches enough of a benchmark to say that the Men in Blue have their final XI locked for England?
“To be fair, most of the slots are fixed. If you go by logic, only three places need filling: No 4, the batsman below or above (MS) Dhoni, and the extra all-rounder or spinner,” remarked former India batsman Hemang Badani.
“Rayudu has looked good and made his chances count. He has the management’s backing. But, what if he doesn’t perform in the Australia ODIs? This conversation will happen again. These outings against West Indies can’t be discounted. But saying that this series has shaped our World Cup blueprint is definitely jumping the gun.”
Even former India all-rounder Madan Lal makes a case for expectations to be tempered while taking Khaleel as an example.
“He has been promising since Asia Cup and he seems talented. His run-up looks smooth, and so does his delivery stride. But you can’t just rule out the other contenders by looking at these five matches.
“You still have Umesh (Yadav), Ishant (Sharma) and (Mohammed) Shami in the mix as third seamer. If he does make it to the ODI squad for Australia, Khaleel’s performance there should give a clearer idea of who that man should be in England.”
Going by the two former players’ perspectives, it seems pretty obvious that India’s three ODIs Down Under should serve as the window for sieving out their main men for the big-ticket event. But Badani feels that going one step further for doing the same will ensure that India’s World Cup plans are more waterproof. That basically entails the management looking at both Australia and beyond, and also keeping their options open in terms of replacements.
“Over the years, even Australian pitches have become flat. So the New Zealand ODIs (five) will perhaps be the time when India’s true combination will reveal itself, considering that conditions there will be closer to what they’ll get in England,” he observed.
“Apart from that, contingency plans for failures need to be in place, especially for our middle-order. I’d say that in the opportunities he was given, Dinesh Karthik wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad either. Had he converted that start (he scored 37) in the Asia Cup final, Rayudu may perhaps have not even been in the picture.”On October 21, there were 18 ODIs left for the World Cup. It’s 13 now. Surely, the next eight should be enough to predict the names of the 11 men who’ll step out at the Rose Bowl to face South Africa on June 5, 2019.
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com