West Indies vs India: 5 Players to look out for

India is just coming off a successful Champions Trophy campaign as they reached the final of the multilateral tournament before facing a humiliating defeat against their arch-rivals Pakistan in the ultimate stage. The focus now shifts across the Atlantic as we move to the Carribean where West Indies host the star-studded Indian line-up.

The next assignment for the men in blue is a 5 ODI and A T20I series against the side which did not even qualify for the Champions Trophy. West Indies were busy hosting Afghanistan in 3 match ODI and T20I series. The home side whitewashed the T20I series and had to share the ODI series with the Afghans.

With India sending in a full-strength lineup and adding few exceptional talent in the roster, let us look at few exceptional players to watch out for from both sides in the upcoming series starting tomorrow at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant would have felt hard done by missing out on his flight to London for the Champions Trophy especially after his performances in the Indian Premier League and domestic season. He will certainly be a player to look out for as the young man from Roorkee would want to cement his place in the side henceforth.

With Rohit Sharma out of the tournament, the opening slot in the lineup remains vacant. It will be a toss between Ajinkya Rahane and Pant for the position. If he gets a chance in the six matches, we surely would be treated with an exciting range of strokeplay.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya has grown off ages in the last 18 months since he was introduced into the Indian ranks back in Australia. His performance in the recently concluded Champions Trophy is a testimonial to that. His sparkling knocks against Pakistan are still fondly remembered by many.

He smashed Imad Wasim for three consecutive sixes in the final over during the group stages. India was in no position to chase down the total set by their arch rivals in the all-important finals of the tournament. However, his quickfire knock of 76 off just 43 balls gave an outside chance to the Indians before he was unfortunately run out by his own partner. Pandya would want to continue to create impact in the tournament.

Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t put a foot wrong in major ICC events as he has dominated two championships on his own, thus, receiving a tag of a big tournament player. However, when it comes to bilateral tournament throughout his career, the stylish left handed’s form has been lukewarm in all forms of the game.

With KL Rahul already in the ranks, Dhawan would want to alter his reputation as an all season player to cement his place in the opening slot. Would he be able to replicate his form in the Champions Trophy or Dhawan would continue his trend when it comes to insignificant bilateral series, it would be interesting to watch out for.

Evin Lewis

The swashbuckling opener defines what modern day batting is all about. His big hitting prowess is well renowned for the ardent followers of the game. Indians faced the wrath of his blade last year when they toured the US for a two-match T20 series in Miami, Florida.

Since then, he has been highly consistent and would want to replicate his form against the visitors the last time they locked horns against each other.

Roston Chase

Roston Chase’s reputation of being a hard nut to crack started off after the third Test match against India last year. Chase was relatively an unknown commodity in the Carribean prior to the match saving inning he played against the tourist in whites.

Chase is coming off after yet another impressive Test Series against Pakistan as he brought up two important hundreds which displayed his resilience as a batsman despite an unconventional technique. It would be interesting to see how he transforms his good form in the whites to the Maroons of the West Indies.