3 Big questions for the Indian team heading into the 2019 World Cup

#1 Who are the backup seamers?

For the past year or so, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have formed a formidable bowling pair in ODIs for India. They have managed to pick up wickets upfront as well as in the death, and at the same time, they both are equally capable of containing runs at the death.

India missed their services badly in the ODI series in England and the likes of Umesh Yadav, Siddharth Kaul and Hardik Pandya leaked too many runs, which was the reason why Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav failed to take wickets in the middle overs, especially in the last 2 ODIs, because England had to do nothing but to see them off.

Given the World Cup is in England, they need to find at least 2 backup fast-bowling options who can come to their rescue in case any of Bhuvneshwar or Bumrah is going through a lean patch or is injured.

Umesh Yadav and Siddharth Kaul were too expensive in England, Shardul Thakur has been too inconsistent in his short career. The options seem to be limited as far as fast bowlers are concerned.

Khaleel Ahmed showed glimpses of his potential in the match against Hong Kong. With his left-arm angle, he can definitely provide a variety to the pace attack. But he needs to have an ample number of games under his belt before the World Cup. In such a marquee event, experience matters along with potential.

Even someone like Deepak Chahar can be given a chance after his exploits in the IPL. Also, the team can always fall back to the experience of the likes of Mohammad Shami, who is very good, especially at the death with his yorkers, and Ishant Sharma, who seems to be bowling as well as he has in his entire career, as evident by his performance in the recently concluded test series against England.

With the World Cup fast approaching, India soon needs to sort out a pool of 3-4 fast bowlers apart from Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah who can do the job for them, if needed.