India's tour of Zimbabwe: India's possible XI

India has emerged as a victorious T20 side this year after their splendid performances in the Asia cup, against the Aussies, and later against Sri Lanka. In contrast, their ODI performances have been a under-par nearly getting white washed out Down Under. Now with a trip to Zimbabwe, who are 11th in the latest ODI rankings looming large on the horizon, the selectors have decided to field a young side, which will be led by MSD.

The squad comprises of few surprise picks and some worthy ones too.

The pitch:

All the ODI and T20’s against Zimbabwe have been scheduled at Harare Cricket Ground. This pitch is expected to be a dry wicket, thereby favoring the spinners, as game progresses on. But initially the pacers will have an advantage. Last year when Pakistan toured Zimbabwe for a T20 series, it turned out be a low scoring one as Pakistan fixed a target of just 130+ in both the matches. It was the same case for India when they played a ODI series there, where they could hardly set a target of 250-280. Last year, India, Pakistan and Ireland toured Zimbabwe of which eight times teams have won by defending and five times by chasing. So, setting a target and attempting to defend it appears to be a better strategy . Hence, the toss is also very crucial.

PERFORMANCES OF Players in the Squad:

1) BATSMEN:

a) Openers:

KL Rahul and Faiz Fazal would be the frontrunners for openers’ choice. They have had great averages during Ranji trophy, List A. KL Rahul has also fared better in this IPL edition.

b) Middle order:

The probable middle order would comprise of Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, and Ambati Rayudu. Manish Pandey and Rayudu have international experience and against Zimbabwe to be more precise. Both scored fifties on their ODI debut, and both scored tons against Zimbabwe last year.

Undoubtedly, the No.6 position is reserved for the limited overs format skipper MSD  It would be interesting to see if Dhoni takes off the big gloves and stands as a fielder, letting KL Rahul take over the wicket-keeper’s role.

 However strong a team’s batting order might be, the bowling line-up should be equally strong to restrict the opposition’s batting.

There might be 2 combinations of spinners and pacers. Usually, MSD and the selection’ committee  prefer 3:2 combination of pacers and spinners. They might want to change it to 4:1 combination as the Harare pitch had been a bit grassy during some matches.

a) Case 1: (3 pacers and 2 spinners)

If MSD and selection committee follow the usual strategy of 3 pacers and 2 spinners, then Bumrah, Sran and Kulkarni who have produced memorable performances in IPL 2016 with decent economy might be the top picks. Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan would be benched because they haven’t produced satisfactory performances in this IPL edition.

b) Case 2: (4 pacers and a spinner)

If the selection committee takes the pitch factor into consideration, 4 pacers and a spinner would be selected. Then, Rishi Dhawan  along with Bumrah, Sran, Kulkarni, would make the cut instead of the inexperienced Unadkat, as the latter conceded more runs without picking wickets. The remaining spinner slot would be filled by Axar over Chahal as the former has all-round abilities.

KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk) ; Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Predicted Playing XI for ODI and T20’s: (4 pacers and a spinner)

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