Windies vs India: VVS Laxman makes a few suggestions for the visitors ahead of opening T20I

After the 2019 World Cup, India is all set to play the three-match T20I series against the Windies. The opening encounter of the 20-overs fixtures is scheduled to be played on August 3 at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida. Even as the core of the Indian batting unit has been retained from the mega event, the bowling unit looks a tad short on experience.

Before the commencement of the series, VVS Laxman, the former Indian batsman, put forth some of his suggestions for captain Virat Kohli. He reckons that Shikhar’s Dhawan return following his thumb injury is likely to boost the Men in Blue’s lineup and restore quality in it.

Laxman is looking forward to watching KL Rahul bat at the number four position, which means that the Indian skipper should be slotted at number three. Moreover, he is keen to watch Rishabh Pant’s approach since the 21-year-old would now be a regular fixture in the Indian team.

“The return of Shikhar Dhawan from injury restores quality and firepower to the batting, which looks both settled and strong. I would love to see KL Rahul get a chance to extend his good form of the World Cup and bat at No. 4, and watch with keen interest how Rishabh Pant goes, now that he is a certainty across formats,” Laxman wrote in his column for The Times of India (TOI).

Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey need to bide their time, says Laxman

The likes of Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer were also drafted into the squad following their decent performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and for India A. Nevertheless, for Laxman, the duo needs to wait longer in order to break into the eleven. The same is for the reason that India might go in with the extra bowling option on what is expected to be a good batting strip in Florida.

“Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer have broken open the doors to selection with a string of top performances, but unfortunate as it might seem, I feel they will still have to bide their time because I would prefer the extra bowling option for Virat to fall back on,” Laxman added.