India vs Windies ODI Series 2018: 5 Indian players for whom this series is extremely crucial
India trounced a weak, hapless Windies test team to win their tenth consecutive test series at home.
It’s an achievement Virat Kohli and his boys would certainly be proud of. But also one must have a look at the quality of the oppositions they were up against in the course of the ten series played.
India put on a complete team performance, the standout performances came from debutant Prithvi Shaw who won the man of the series award for the runs he scored and Umesh Yadav who got his maiden ten-wicket haul at Hyderabad.
The series moves to formats that will suit the visitors much more- ODI’s and T20I’s. They still don’t have a full-strength squad at least for the ODI’s but still are well equipped to give India a good fight.
India, on the other hand, will be buoyant after their Asia Cup title defence, the return of their skipper Virat Kohli and the fact that they are playing on familiar conditions.
They will most definitely be favourites to defeat the Windies on their home turf.
But Team India are not without problems of their own. With time running out before the World Cup, there are still lot of issues that needs to be resolved.
Their team combination still needs to be firmed up and as it’s been for some time now the No.4 slot in the batting order is still up for grabs.
Keeping these factors in mind here is a look at five Indian players for whom this ODI series against Windies is extremely crucial keeping the World Cup in mind:
#5 Umesh Yadav
They say someone’s loss is another person’s gain. Umesh Yadav has been in and out of the ODI team for India in recent times. He was last seen donning the blue jersey against England in July 2018.
A slew of fantastic, consistent performances in the test series against the Windies convinced the selectors to pick him for the ODI series. A groin injury sustained by Shradul Thakur meant that Umesh Yadav could get a look in.
The speedster who can trouble batsmen with some unexpected pace and bounce will look to get a string of games so that he can cement his place in the ODI team.
With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar rested for this series, it gives Umesh the perfect opportunity to spearhead the pace bowling attack.
He will know that there is stiff competition for spots in the World Cup squad. The speedster with 105 wickets from 73 matches will look to push his name ahead of the likes of Shradul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed for a place in India’s squad for the World Cup, 2019.