ICC World Cup 2019: Selection Problems India Could Face During The Tournament
May 17, 2019 at 1:07 PM
Finally, all the hard work that the Indian team kept from the last couple of years set to come into the fore when they start their journey in the ICC World Cup 2019. Are they successful in finding their best 15-man squad? Do they have enough firepower to lift the glorious trophy? As of now, they would enter into the tournament as the favourites to win the trophy but there are quite a few selection problems India could face during the tournament. Here are they:
1. Mohammed Shami or Bhuvneshwar Kumar?
This could be the problem that the Indian National Cricket Team could face as the tournament progress. They need to decide the second-choice fast bowler, as there would times when India would like to go with three spinners alongside Hardik Pandya, who bowls medium-fast bowling.
In that case, India needs to drop one between Shami or Bhuvneshwar Kumar if they feel the pitch would assist spinners. Mohammed Shami has been delivering the goods except for the team in the recent past and improved his skills to get the better of world-class batsmen.
On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar developed a great bond to bowl alongside Jasprit Bumrah and got the class of his own when it comes to death bowling. Besides that, he developed a knuckle delivery, which would help the team with the longer boundaries on the offer.
Having said that, as of now, Mohammed Shami looks the second best fast bowler for the Indian team. But, if the team looks to have a better death bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar would get the nod.
2. Two among Ravindra Jadeja, Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav:
This would be the genuine problem for the Indian team heading into the tournament. The spin department Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have always been sensational for the team. But, in between, Ravindra Jadeja is also a worthy candidate to consider and also got a fine record in England conditions.
The real problem that would be with the inclusion of Wrist spinners in the side would be the batting depth. Batting in England, there must be heavy batting lineup in the side. But, if the team goes with wrist spinners, they might look a bit of weakness in their batting lineup or else, you can say pressure will be on the top-order.
If they add Ravindra Jadeja, he can be handy with the bat and also got the skills to take wickets. But, Kuldeep and Chahal are genuine wicket-takers, which would put the team management in tough shoes.
Well, it would be interesting to see whether India can find both the spinners in the playing XI. They need to look after the team balance in order to go for the duo in the playing XI.
3. Number 4 batsman?
Over the years, India delivered a quality number 4 batsman. They ruled the roost at that slot before losing out their places for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, of late, the Indian team suffered a lot for the perfect replacement at that slot, where they finally satisfied with Vijay Shankar for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019.
The batting all-rounder has always been a scarcity for India in the International cricket. After Kapil Dev, we hardly got a player with a stature like him. After quite a time, India got a leap of faith with Hardik Pandya delivering the goods in both sections of the game. Now, they got one more player in the form of Vijay Shankar, who is a batting dominant all-rounder
Other than Vijay, there are quite a few options in the hand for the Indian management with KL Rahul, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav. But, as the selectors said, Vijay will start at number 4 but will they persist with him?
Most probably, India would start with Vijay Shankar at number 4 as MSK Prasad mentioned during the squad announcement. With the tournament being so long, the rotation of players will be on the cards. So, we are in for quite a few surprises.