India vs Australia: 5 Players to watch out for in the ODI series

3. Navdeep Saini

Navdeep Saini, the young sensation in the Indian cricket has been in the limelight of late. Saini was always known for his express pace in the domestic circuit, and it is helping him at the international level now. The speedster bagged ‘Man of the Match’ award on his international debut against the West Indies, and has been getting better with every game. Saini who is just nine matches old at the highest level has been very impressive.

The 27-year-old has represented India just once in the 50-over format so far. It will be interesting to see how the Indian team management fits Saini in the playing XI as Bumrah, Shami and Thakur are also in the squad. The spinners – Kuldeep, Chahal and Jadeja also find themselves in the squad. Kohli might select three frontline pacers along with Jadeja and one of the wrist spinners in the XI at least for the series opener.

As mentioned in the previous slide, the decks are expected to be good batting surfaces, India should definitely consider the right-arm quick. Saini is a hit-the-deck-hard bowler and such bowlers are useful on the pitches which do not support the bowlers. Howbeit, the pace of the gun fast bowler might backfire because of not-so-large-boundaries if he loses his control.

Saini has displayed the glimpses of his potential and possesses various tools like yorkers, quick short balls, nasty bouncers and hard-length balls in his armoury. The main aim of Kohli and Co. is to target the T20 World Cup which will be held in Australia. The fast and hard Australian pitches with good bounce on offer assist Saini-like bowlers who have the pace. Thus, India should give him game time as much as they can in order to nurture the young man.