How prepared is the India team for the World Cup? These 5 questions arose after the West Indies series

How prepared is the India team for the 2023 World Cup? These 5 questions arose after the West Indies series

The Indian team won the three match ODI series against the West Indies 2-1. The Indian batsmen and bowlers performed amazingly in the last match of this series. But from the point of view of the World Cup which starts in India on October 5 this year, the question remains on everyone’s mind: how prepared is the Indian team? Not only this, seeing the way the experiments were conducted in this series, many questions have also been raised about the balance of the team and their combination. This was the last ODI series before the Indian team World Cup squad was released but the great players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma did not think it was right to test themselves. This clearly meant that the West Indies series was kept as an audition for the World Cup selection for the juniors.

When the court was found to be slow and changeable in the first two matches of this series, something similar was seen in the India team’s batting in recent years. Struggles against spinners, difficulty scoring runs on slow pitches. This was the reason why the team lost 5 wickets while chasing the target of 115 runs without Virat and Rohit at bat. After that, in the second ODI, without Rohit and Virat, the entire team was down to 181 runs. Then in the third ODI, when a flat track was found, everyone showed their attitude. Here too, from over 33 to over 40, as the bowling began to wane and the spinners dominated, the Indian batsmen were able to score just 16 runs in 7 overs losing 1 wicket. It was a matter of the last 15 overs and the most amazing thing was that at that time two of the brightest finishers and attacking batsmen Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were in the crease. It was a captaincy mistake, if the spinners’ overs had been saved, perhaps Team India would not have been able to reach 351 runs. Many questions related to all these aspects are now coming to light.

Do we have to find the answers to these 5 questions before the World Cup?

Question number 1- Before the World Cup was played in 2019 or after the World Cup in 2011, the India team could never be sure of their number four. Once again the World Cup is upside down and the number 4 of Team India is not fixed. Shreyas Iyer has been groomed for the role over the years, but his fitness is up for debate. He is still out of the team and it is not certain whether he will also return in the Asian Cup. Issue number 4 was also seen in this series. However, after getting the platform set in the decider, Sanju Samson came along and scored a half century, but still Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will have to find the right answer to this question. Perhaps for that the team will also have to wait for the final fitness report from Shreyas Iyer.

Question number 2- Ishaan Kishan has scored a half century in all three matches of the West Indies series. He, now, has also gone far ahead in the race to gain a place in the World Cup squad. But it is not yet clear what his role is. He scored all three of these half centuries during the opening. When Rohit comes, only he and Shubman Gill will open. What will Ishaan Kishan’s role be at that time? In recent heats, he was tested at number 4 and in the middle order, but he couldn’t do much there. Even if he plays as a goalie hitter, he’ll have to prove himself in the middle order, but here he was starting. This is the confusion, will he be his backup starter or his middle order hitter? The team will have to find the answer to this question.

Question number 3- This question is a bit related to the other question. KL Rahul is injured and whether he will return in the Asian Cup will be a matter to be seen. Last year too, after an injury, he played directly in the Asian Cup. From there until the World Cup, his performance was in doubt. Something similar may happen this year too. Even if he comes directly to the Asian Cup, what about his preparations that haven’t been done for a while? Then the question also arises that he was being groomed as a wicket-keeper batsman in ODIs for some time back. Now, even if he comes directly to the Asian Cup, Ishaan Kishan, Sanju Samson, who have been playing in the team as a goalkeeper hitter for so long. What will happen to them, the answer to this question will also have to be found by the team leadership.

Question number 4- When Team India won the ODI World Cup in the year 2011 or when they won the Champions Trophy in the year 2013, the role of finishers was very important in both tournaments. In the 2011 World Cup, players like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina played their role well on many occasions. This time, if we are preparing for the World Cup to be held in India, who will be our finalist, this is the most important question? Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja Which of these? All three hitters have been tried in various roles from No.4 to No.7 in the recent past. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a final solution. Now it remains to be seen who will play this important role until the Asian Cup, whether the management of the India team can find the answer or not.

Question number 5- Team India’s bowling attack has been their strong suit over the years on a number of occasions. Despite this, is being beaten in an ICC event the most important question? The reason for this may also be that there is no stable bowling combination. Siraj and Shami have played cricket together continuously in recent series. Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya have also played many consecutive matches together. There was only one shortcoming in this Jasprit Bumrah lineup, that is, the rhythm drumming is ready for you. Now, if we come to spin, Ravindra Jadeja will surely play in any case, but who is the best option for you between Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, the answer is probably still to be found. However, Kuldeep played all three ODIs of the Windies series and Chahal was given no chance. But it will be interesting to see if this is the final decision of the management that he will go with the pairing of Kuldeep and Jadeja.

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