India vs West Indies 2019: 3 players India should have picked for the T20I series
The Indian selectors along with Indian skipper Virat Kohli met on Thursday to pick India's squad for the upcoming T20I and ODI home series against West Indies. The 'Men in Blue' are scheduled to host West Indies in a three-match T20I series, closely followed by the ODI outings.
The biggest talking point from India's squad selection is the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, alongside India's leg-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kohli will be returning as T20I skipper while his deputy Rohit Sharma, who was expected to be rested for the ODI series, has also been included.
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India have picked a full-strength team for the series, which is not a surprise. Considering the T20 World Cup next year, the team is likely to focus on playing a settled lineup in whatever games are remaining before the tournament.
India have picked Rishabh Pant as their only wicket-keeping option in both the ODIs and T20Is, as MS Dhoni continues to miss the limited-overs squad for unknown reasons.
While a few players have marked their return to the squad, the selection committee has also taken a few surprising decisions which might sound very harsh on a couple of players.
Here, we take a look at three players India should have picked for the T20I series against West Indies:
#3 Rahul Chahar
Rahul Chahar, whose only T20I appearance came against West Indies in the Caribbean islands in August 2019, was a part of the T20I squad against South Africa and Bangladesh. However, the young leg-spinner didn't get any opportunity to showcase his talent on home soil.
He has now been replaced by Kuldeep Yadav in the T20Is. That seems quite harsh on the 20-year-old; he has practically been dropped without even breaking into the playing XI.
With the T20 World Cup in sight, India had an opportunity to groom a leg-spinner in conditions that generally don't suit spinners, especially with the amount of dew on Indian grounds. But unfortunately that's not going to happen in this series.