CWC 2019: Five players in contention for the two vacant spots in India's playing XI

The Indian captain Virat Kohli must be happy after India’s thorough performance in the warm-up match against Bangladesh. The match at Cardiff has solved India’s biggest predicament in recent times – the No. 4 position in the batting order. KL Rahul’s century has ensured that in India’s first World Cup match against South Africa, he would walk in at the fall of the second wicket. That is the biggest positive for India.

Another affirmative for India was the success of the two wrist- spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. They both ended up claiming 3 wickets each. Not to forget MS Dhoni’s enterprising hundred. On the flip side, as a result of the constant failure of the opening batsmen and the fast bowlers barring Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian line-up wears an unsettled look.

Regardless of the woeful form of the openers and the fast bowlers, nine players select themselves for the first match against South Africa. They are Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. That leaves the team management to bother about two vital spots.

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To select Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Mohammed Shami

The choice is between Shami and Bhuvi

The first choice for the Indian think tank is to identify an opening bowling partner for Bumrah. This will be a straight shootout between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami. The choice is between a consistent steady bowler and a strike bowler when in rhythm. Bhuvneswar Kumar had tasted success in the ICC Champions Trophy held in England in 2017 with 7 wickets at an economy of 4.64.

Mohammed Shami, after his comeback in the home series against the West Indies, has taken 22 wickets in 13 matches at an economy of 5.10. In the aforesaid series, Kumar has also taken exactly the same number of wickets in exactly the same number of matches at an economy of 5.46. There is really nothing to choose between the two. However, compared to Bhuvi, Shami gives the impression that he is the bowler in form.

The choice of the fast bowler is interrelated to the choice of the personnel for the other vacant spot.

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To select one among Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja and Shankar - The two all-rounders of a different kind

India has 3 options to fill up the one vacant spot in the middle-order. Vijay Shankar failed to make use of the solitary opportunity he got in the warm-up match. He failed with the bat and never looked like a player who could contribute effectively with the ball.

Kedar Jadhav could not take part in both the warm-up matches due to injury. Hence, his form and fitness could not be assessed. Ravindra Jadeja made a strong claim for a place in the playing XI with two eye catchy performances in the warm-up games.

Against New Zealand, coming into bat with the Indian score reading 81 for 6, Jadeja blasted 54 off 50 balls. As always, he was economical with his bowling efforts. In the match against Bangladesh, Jadeja first scored 11 not out off 4 balls and then bowled 10 tight overs and ended up with figures of 1 for 40.

On current form alone, Jadeja should walk into the playing XI. But it all boils down to the preference of the team management as to whether they are on the lookout for a bowling all-rounder or a batting all-rounder. Besides, playing 3 spinners wouldn’t be in tune with the prevailing conditions. South Africa has in their batting line-up 4 left-handers in their top 7 to nullify the selection of Jadeja.

One way of looking at things is on batting friendly conditions, it would be better to have a regular sixth bowler in the form of Jadeja to compact the onslaught of the opposition batsmen. In such favorable conditions, the Indian top order is expected to score all the runs and hence a batting all-rounder in the form of a Shankar or a Jadhav would be superfluous.

In the event, if Jadeja is selected on the basis of that above reasoning, Bhuvneshwar Kumar too can be selected as a cover in the lower order batting. Alternatively, if Shankar or Jadhav is selected ahead of Jadeja as an additional cover for the out-of-form openers, Mohammed Shami should make it to the team to strengthen the bowling as India would be going in with 5 regular bowlers only.

Either way, the Indian team management will be in a quandary in resolving the team composition before the start of the first match against South Africa.