India ready with bolstered bowling
3RD ODI With Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah back, hosts look better equipped to check West Indies batsmen
Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer almost got West Indies their maiden victory of the India tour in the second ODI at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. While the tie didn’t help them break the deadlock, the visitors will take that in their stride given that they seem to be going from strength to strength with each game.
After a humiliating innings defeat in the first Test, they put up a brave show in the second before crumbling under pressure. In the ODI series as well, while Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stole the show in the first ODI, the Caribbeans bounced back in style — even the ice-cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni wore a worrisome look in the last over — in the second encounter.
West Indies are undoubtedly better while playing the shorter formats. More prominent batsmen than bowlers have emerged out of the islands in the past couple of years and on the flat deck of the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here, the visitors will again pin hopes on their batting firepower.
The Indian camp, too, is aware of this and with their fast bowling unit looking a bit lackadaisical, they have brought back Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for the remainder of the series. While Umesh Yadav and Khaleel Ahmed have retained their spots, it’s unlikely either would play on Saturday.
The Indian team didn’t practice on Friday, while the likes of Shai Hope, Himron Hetmyer, Chandrapaul Hemraj and Kieran Powell took the net bowlers to the cleaners.
So far, West Indies have managed to deal fairly well with the wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. While the former did pick three crucial wickets in the last game, he was hammered for 67 runs and the latter went for 63. Thus, with the inclusion of Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah, the bowling unit is only expected to get better.
West Indies’ real worry lies with the stupendous form of Virat Kohli, who will be aiming for this third consecutive century. With Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu also living up to their reputation, it’s the Indian batting line-up that West Indies will be most wary of. Nothing that they’ve thrown at the hosts
have worked so far and it’s expected to remain that way.
INDIAN WORRIES
While the hosts would be a happy lot to post 300 plus scores in both the ODIs, it has also left their middle-order virtually untested. Barring Rayudu, who was unbeaten on 22 in the first ODI and scored 73 in the second game, the trio of Dhoni, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja all failed in Visakhapatnam.
Despite that, they managed to reach 321 but also found the opposition all but cross the finish line. The inability to wipe out the opposition isn’t something the think tank will be impressed with. That India still found a way back into the game after the visitors required 83 off 90 balls with six wickets in hand in the last game was perhaps due to the inexperience of the opposition than any out-of-the-world show from Kohli’s men.