India vs Windies, ODI Series 2018: 3 areas of concern India must address in the remaining games

#2 India’s death overs bowling options needs to be assessed

Can Yuzvendra Chahal be tried in the death overs?

Another problem that has affected India in the ODI format- the performance of their bowlers in the death overs came back to haunt them in the ODI at Guwahati. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, it looked settled heading into the World Cup.

Hardik Pandya also chipped in with couple of good overs at the death overs and overall Virat Kohli and the team management didn’t have to worry too much about this area of concern. But this has come back into the limelight after witnessing the Windies onslaught in the last few overs to propel their score to a highly competitive 322.

What should be a cause for concern are the death overs bowling options when the likes of Bhuvi, Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are not in the team. Clearly, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Khaleel Ahmed didn’t look the part.

It might be very critical to write them off just after one game but the inability to curtail the opposition in the death overs will bother someone like Virat Kohli. He did mention in the post-match conference that the Windies batsmen were very good, but the bowlers could have been better. Kohli the captain was diplomatic to say the least.

With Chahal very familiar with bowling in the powerplay overs for Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) in the IPL and India he should probably be tried as an option to bowl at the death overs as well. Getting the right balance of who should bowl how many overs at the death overs needs to be given critical importance in the remaining games.

With Umesh being predominantly good when the ball is new, he must have the least overs in the death overs. Certainly, the death overs bowling options will have to relooked and reassessed. With the World Cup coming up soon, India can’t afford to slip up in this issue, and the remaining four games against the Windies gives them ample opportunity to figure out a workable solution for this problem.