IND vs WI | West Indies will find it tough to tackle India's top four, reckons Harsha Bhogle
Harsha Bhogle believes that the top four of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are very dynamic and West Indies will find it tough to deal with them. West Indies have a good captain in Kieron Pollard but Bhogle feels that it will be a stern test for an inexperienced side like them.
West Indies are set to tour India for a three-match T20I and ODI series starting from December 6 and Harsha Bhogle is very excited about the series as he hopes it to be a competitive one. But he also feels that the form of West Indies of late has been very poor in the T20is as well as ODIs and thus it will be interesting to see how things pan out
"You look at West Indies' white-ball side and you feel that yes this series could be competitive. India desperately needs a competitive series, but the numbers aren't promising as West Indies have lost the 9 bilateral ODI series against India. They had lit up the T20 World Cup in 2016 but since then they have won 12 T20Is and lost 25. The numbers aren't looking good," Bhogle told in his series preview video on Cricbuzz.
Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the T20I series with a knee injury and that has opened doors for KL Rahul who has had a fantastic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season and Bhogle believes that if Rahul plays with the freedom it is only going to make India more strong as a batting unit.
"One thing that Shikhar Dhawan's injury has done is it has made the team management the most dynamic T20 opener in the form of KL Rahul. If Rahul bats freely, he gives you a start and it helps Rohit Sharma play at his pace which then sets the base for Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and I think that is a very dynamic top four," reckoned Bhogle.
India then can go in with Rishabh Pant at number six and then play with all-rounders and that extra sixth bowling option, But Bhogle feels that Manish Pandey deserves a chance as he averaged an unbelievable 105 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and scored 314 runs in 8 innings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, helping his Karnataka team to titles in both tournaments.
"India has to find a way to play Manish Pandey. His form this year in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy have been nothing short of fantastic," he said.
While Karnataka won both the tournaments, Tamil Nadu made it to the finals of both the tournaments and Washington Sundar was one of the main reasons for that as he showed his versatility by batting in the top-order and spinning the ball, something that he has worked on and added to his variety of deliveries.
"I am particularly excited to see Washington Sundar grow as a player and he is now a proper batsman as you saw in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that he can bat anywhere. He has started to turn the ball and that is the reason that people have started looking differently at him having added that ball to his armoury," Bhogle asserted.
As far as the West Indies are concerned, Bhogle believes that if players like Shai Hope and Roston Chase step up, they can cover up for the inexperience of the side and under the captaincy of an experienced Kieron Pollard, West Indies can give India a very tough time if they play to their potential.
"I am looking forward to seeing two players in the ODIs who are genuinely god batsmen, one is Shai Hope who will bat at the top of the order and anchor the innings and also keep wickets giving West Indies that extra option. Another one is Roston Chase who will give a few overs of spin and is a solid middle-order batsman," he stated.
"Presence of Pollard gives me the expression that the West Indies will be a bit more competitive. So they have got the side but we will have to wait and see if they have got the team to go ahead and win it," Bhogle concluded.