Antigua: The Indian team management will be fretting on possible team combinations for the first Test against the West Indies with a difficult choice between senior pros Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane if they opt for a fifth specialist bowler.
Unless India go with a safety-first four bowler strategy which allows both Test and ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma to figure in the scheme of things, one among the two would be cooling heels and it could be Ajinkya Rahane going by his wretched form in red-ball cricket.
India will be returning to the longest format after a good seven-and-a-half months and the moot point of the playing XI will be whether Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri duo goes for an additional sixth batsman or an extra bowler for the first Test starting Thursday.
If the Indian team’s think tank employs conservative strategy, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. However, it should be stated here that in India’s last Test series against Australia, it was Rahul who was dropped and was replaced by Hanuma Vihari.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli are the two pillars at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively but the problem starts after that. With Rishabh Pant expected to come in at No. 6 and Ravindra Jadeja with his all-round skills bringing in the necessary balance at No. 7 in the absence of an injured Hardik Pandya, the Indian skipper may be left with an unenviable task of putting either Rahane or Rohit on the chopping block.
As far as the bowling attack is concerned, Kuldeep Yadav is a certainty along with Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma. The toss up then will be between a batsman and Mohammed Shami. Even though he has been India’s top Test bowler in the last few years, the chances of Ravichandran Ashwin finding a place in the playing XI looks slim indeed.
Skipper Kohli has always been a big advocator of playing five bowlers as the key to winning Test matches is 20 wickets. If the track is lively, Kohli perhaps wouldn’t even mind playing Shami. However a lot will depend on the kind of track that the local curators provide at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here.
There is a perception that this Indian team can take 20 wickets with four bowlers but will Kohli take that risk in their World Test Championships opener? That is the million dollar question now.
Agencies
