After a rather mediocre return to One Day cricket, the Indian selectors have axed Mohammad Shami from the Indian side for the rest of the ongoing series against the West Indies. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar return to the squad to bolster the bowling attack, which has conceded scores of more than 300 runs in successive matches.
The rest of the squad remains the same as the selectors want to give Khaleel Ahmed an extended rope to test out his left-arm angle as it could well be the difference when India name the squad for the World Cup.
This also means, that Virat Kohli would continue to lead the side and there are no changes made to the middle-order after it remained largely untested in the two innings.
India and Virat Kohli could do with the experience and pedigree of Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar as the Windies batting took a liking to the pace attack in the first two matches. Both the bowlers were rested from the Test squad as well as the first two matches after they featured in the Asia Cup winning squad.
India squad:
Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, K Khaleel Ahmed, Lokesh Rahul, Umesh Yadav
Ambati Rayudu's impressive showing at the number 4 position is another box ticked as far as the management is concerned and he should ideally get a longer rope. However, how Rishabh Pant is managed remains to be an intriguing watch.
Also, the form and position of MS Dhoni remain the heated topic of discussion and it remains to be seen if the management float both these players up or down the batting order.
After India won the first match of the series in Guwahati, Windies made a roaring comeback in the second ODI and an absolute humdinger ensued which saw the match end in a tie.
"It was a great game of cricket, great to be part of it. Full house and credit to the West Indies team as well, they showed great heart. Specially in the second innings, when they got stuck in despite being three down. Beautiful partnership between both those guys but the way two teams played it was a fair result," Indian captain Virat Kohli said after the match.
