Three permanent spots up for grabs on India's tour of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Series will be interesting as the young guns in India try to cement their spot

India announced their squad for the Zimbabwe series with Ajinkya Rahane as captain. It consists of a lot of youngsters since India rested senior players MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin.

These guys will automatically fit into the playing eleven when they return. But there are some spots in the full-strength team that are up for grabs, and these spots will depend on how the players perform in Zimbabwe.

Second spinner

Ravindra Jadeja has been playing as the second spinner in the team for a long time. He is more of a bowling all-rounder, but his bowling skills have been on the decline since his shoulder injury. Today, Jadeja is only half the bowler he once was.

He has not been up to the mark with the bat either. As a No. 7 batsman, it is difficult to get plenty of chances to bat, but he has failed to make any impact whenever he has got the opportunity. Because of his lack of form, he was dropped from the squad for the final ODI in Bangladesh.

Ashwin is more than handy with the bat so he can bat at No. 7, and India needs a bowler who can bat a little. The possible candidates are Axar Patel and Harbhajan Singh.

We have not seen Patel's exploits with the bat at the international level, but he has proved in the IPL that he can bat. Even though he couldn't make the best of the opportunities he got in the Bangladesh series, he will be keen to perform well on the Zimbabwe tour and thereby try to cement a spot in the playing eleven.

On the other hand, Bhaji has played some useful cameos at the international level, and in this year's IPL he scored a 19 ball fifty. Harbhajan has played 229 ODIs, and there is no doubt of his ability. His vast experience will prove to be vital for the team.

No. 5 spot

Dhoni had dropped Rahane from the team after the first ODI in the Bangladesh series citing the Mumbaikar’s inability to rotate strike in the middle overs on slow pitches. The captain preferred Ambati Rayudu over Rahane. In spite of failing in the second ODI, Rayudu came back well with an effective 44 in the final ODI.

Although Zimbabwean pitches are not on the slower side, after the tour there will be a fight between these two for the lone spot in the batting order. Rayudu has a better ODI record with 787 runs at an average of 39.35 in 29 matches, while Rahane has scored 1593 runs at an average of 30.63.

There is not much to boast about the two right-handers' strike rate since they both score at just over 75, which is below par in modern day cricket. Whoever comes up with consistently better performances will be chosen for the next tour.

Third seamer

When Mohammad Shami comes back to the team, he will be the one who leads the pace department. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will get a long rope because he is a proven customer with the ball. But who will be India's third seamer?

India have dropped Umesh Yadav so he is not in contention now. Mohit Sharma had a good world cup but was expensive in the lone match he played against Bangladesh. Dhawal Kulkarni who played the last two games had a decent outing as he picked up 3 wickets at an average of 25.33. If he can repeat the performance against Zimbabwe, he would have a fair chance of making it to the full strength squad.

Sandeep Sharma and Ishwar Pandey are the other two options. Sharma has a very good IPL record as well as a strong List A record. In the 25 List A matches he has played, he has picked up 45 wickets at an impressive average of 21.91.

Pandey's performances in domestic one-dayers are not as impressive as Sharma's, but the selectors always look to give more weight to talent than records. It will be a healthy competition between the seamers in the upcoming tours.

This tour will be important for the young guns in India. The fight for a place in the full-strength squad will make the series interesting. We will have to wait and see who grabs the opportunity with both hands.