West Indies vs India 2017: Rating the Indian players

India v Pakistan - ICC Champions Trophy Final : News Photo
Virat Kohli produced the goods for Team India yet again

Bowlers

CRICKET-ANT-WIS-IND-ODI : News Photo
Umesh Yadav picked up 7 wickets

Umesh Yadav: 8/10

Overs: 33Wickets: 7Bowling average: 22.42Economy: 4.75Catches: 2

Yadav played in just two of India’s five matches in the Champions Trophy, and could not create much of an impact in both.

Coming to the West Indies series, he did not get a chance to bowl in the first match and struggled to trouble the batsmen in the second game. However, he finally found his groove from the third game and bowled some tight overs.

The last two games, in particular, were extremely fruitful for him as he picked 3 important wickets in each. He is learning to control his pacey deliveries with every match, and you would hope that he manages to hit the purple patch of his career in the near future.

Kuldeep Yadav: 9/10

Overs: 39Wickets: 8Bowling average: 19.75Economy: 4.05Catches: 1

It was an absolute dream debut for young Yadav, who impressed every time he got the ball in his hand. He was undoubtedly the pick of the Indian bowlers in the series and it looks difficult for both Ravi Ashwin and Jadeja to replace this wrist-spinner in the playing XI now. He was exceptional in the third ODI, where he picked up 3 wickets to cripple the West Indian middle order.

It has been a long time since India produced a chinaman bowler like Yadav, and just like his Test debut back in April, the youngster has lived up to the hype.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 7/10

Overs: 10Wickets: 2Bowling average: 14Economy: 2.80Catches: 0

There’s hardly any sample space to judge Kumar’s performance in the series, but he was pretty disciplined with the ball in the limited overs that he bowled. He played in the first three matches, bowled a total of 10 overs and scalped 2 wickets in the same.

What stands out is his bowling average of 14. Kumar would hope for a bigger crop of overs to come his way in the upcoming Sri Lanka tour.

Ravi Ashwin: 7/10

Overs: 19Wickets: 4Average: 18.75Economy: 3.94

Like Kumar, Ashwin played the first three games and did really well. Ashwin and Yadav created a beautiful web around the baffled West Indian batsmen and picked six wickets between them in the third match of the series.

Ashwin bowled in just two matches though, and you cannot judge him completely based on just 19 overs. The off-spinner is still displaying a defensive frame of mind though and keeps bowling on the middle-leg line.

Mohammad Shami: 7.5/10

Overs: 20Wickets: 4Average: 20.25Economy: 4.05

Considering he was playing his first ODI series of the year, Shami did really well to adapt to the foreign conditions. He was brought in in place of Kumar in the 4th ODI, where he could not pick a wicket but hit the right lengths consistently and kept up the pressure.

He came into his own in the last ODI though and picked the wickets of two well-set batsmen – Shai Hope and Jason Holder – to rattle the West Indian innings. The tussle between Kumar, Shami and Yadav will get extremely interesting once the rested Jasprit Bumrah is back.


Kohli might just have a good headache going into the Sri Lanka series, considering almost everyone in the squad has done relatively well on the West Indies tour.

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