Varun Chakaravarthy or Ravi Bishnoi - who should be India's primary spinner in the Bangladesh T20I series?
India are on course to usher in a new era in the shortest format. Ever since the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the Men in Blue have selected several exciting squads under the pairing of Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir.
Next on the agenda is a three-match home assignment against Bangladesh, who were soundly beaten 2-0 in the recently concluded Test series. The two squads have a few common players for the visitors, but India are set to field a completely different-looking unit.
Most first-choice players, barring perhaps Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, are missing in action for the Men in Blue. In the absence of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Varun Chakaravarthy have been selected as the specialist spinners alongside all-rounders Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Washington Sundar.
India’s squad for the 3 T20Is against Bangladesh: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav.
Among Bishnoi and Chakaravarthy, India have a choice to make. While there is a small chance that both could feature in tandem throughout the T20I series, signs indicate that the hosts will pick only one for the opening game in Gwalior on Sunday, October 6.
Who should be India's primary spinner?
The pecking order favors Ravi Bishnoi, but Varun Chakaravarthy might just be a better option
Ravi Bishnoi is ahead in the pecking order and is likely to be favored by the team think tank for the first T20I against Bangladesh. The leg-spinner has been part of most of India's squads over the last year or so and was even adjudged the Player of the Series against Australia not too long ago.
However, the current composition of India's side could lend itself to Varun Chakaravarthy. If India play Mayank Yadav as the second specialist quick alongside Arshdeep Singh, they will need a spinner who can bowl in the powerplay and at the death.
Bishnoi has been thrust into that role before but hasn't come out with flying colors. He has often erred in length, mostly on the fuller side, and been picked apart by batters who aren't unwilling to play their shots against him. The leg-spinner arguably cannot be trusted to bowl the tough overs at this point, although there is a case to be made that the exposure would serve him well.
Chakaravarthy, meanwhile, has been an excellent all-phase bowler for the Kolkata Knight Riders over the last two Indian Premier League seasons. Capable of bowling to both left and right-handers, the Tamil Nadu spinner has many variations in his locker and hits the bat hard off a good length.
Chakaravarthy will invariably be hard to pick for the Bangladesh batters, who wouldn't have faced him much before. The same goes for Bishnoi, but the KKR man has more tricks up his sleeve and seems more accurate with his lines and lengths.
There are other intangibles, of course. Bishnoi is a younger bowler with a massive upside, can bat a bit, and is a livewire on the field. He too is a wicket-taking threat who can trouble the three left-handers in Bangladesh's top four while also asking questions of the opposition righties on the inside edge.
But purely from a selection standpoint, Chakaravarthy might be the better option. There's a reason why he has earned a call-up to the Indian team after three long years in the wilderness, and while the pecking-order philosophy has its merits, it would be in the team's best interests to put out their strongest XI.