India vs Windies | Winners and Losers ft. Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane
India secured a 2-0 series victory against the Windies and will go to Australia for the long summer with sky-rocketing confidence. Though the series was a smooth one for the likes of Umesh Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane, it also proved to be disastrous for others. More on our W&L feat of the series.
Winners
Umesh Yadav
In the last few years, Indian spinners have ruled the roost in the home conditions with a very limited amount of help from pacers. However, if one bowler has been a notch above the rest, it has to be Umesh Yadav, who has picked 66 wickets in 25 matches since 2015 in Asia - almost the double of what Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma have achieved in the last three years. However, when it comes to overseas Tests, he has very rarely been preferred over Shami with the reason being his inability to do something with the new ball. But his shining moment might come
Umesh shouldered the total fast bowling responsibilities in the absence of Shardul Thakur, who had bowled only ten deliveries before a groin injury cut short his Test debut. The Vidarbha pacer bowled nearly 40 overs to pick up a six-
Ajinkya Rahane
Alongside KL Rahul, if there was one player who was under pressure to perform it was Ajinkya Rahane and India desperately wanted him to perform. He and Virat Kohli are going to be the lynchpins in the Indian team for the Australia series and all the poor showing would go down the drain if the Mumbaikar performs well Down Under. And from that count, Rahane's return to form comes as a huge relief for the team. He started the innings with a beautiful square drive and looked in immaculate control during his 174-ball innings. Once he sets the ball rolling, there is no way to stop him as Rahane can make any bowling unit tired with his superb ability to leave the ball judiciously. He had hit only a couple of
Losers
KL Rahul
Rahul has that peculiar nature of not moving his feet too much, but he has the ability to read the ball and transfer his weight on the right direction, which is the basic reason why he looks so good while batting. However, the same trait has come on to haunt him of late as his last nine completed innings saw him being out either by LBW or bowled. The series against Windies provided him with an opportunity to bury the demons, but his negative intuition caused him to go out of the way to block deliveries. Shannon Gabriel caught him plumb in front in the first Test while in the second game, Rahul stood there staring at a broken set of stumps. India
Wriddhiman Saha
Since MS Dhoni left the stage in late 2014, Indian wicket-keeping jigsaw has been a puzzle. Fair to say, Wriddhiman Saha has given it some sort of stability, but he is way too inconsistent as a batsman in modern-day cricket. India tried Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik in between, but the duo failed to make any significant contributions too. However, it seems like Pant is on course to cement his position in the team for good and send Saha down the pecking order. While Saha used to be trusted with bat alongside the lower-order batsmen, Pant’s proclivity to play the role of an aggressor has been a standout feature, which can actually help the team going forward. His hard-working partnership with Ajinkya Rahane also proved that he isn't a completely uni-dimensional player and could help the team
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