The five-T20I series between India and West Indies ended in a 2-2 draw, with the fifth and final T20I at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru getting washed out due to rain. With India having just a week of time before their next T20I series against New Zealand begins, they sure have some areas to ponder.
India had a good start to the series, but West Indies showed that, when put under pressure, even the three-time T20 World Cup champions crack badly. The Indian team has these three areas that need special attention going forward as they build towards the future.
Here are the 3 concerns for Team India after the IND vs. WI T20I series:
3. Troubling balance of playing XI
Indian team management under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir has diverted from the precedent set by Rahul Dravid. Gambhir prefers batting depth, meaning they compromise on the bowling in order to have someone batting at no. 8. This has sometimes left the Indian team without a proper four-person bowling attack, and the rest of the part-timers do not have the same abilities as proper all-rounders. India needs to bring some balance into their playing XI, where they are not sacrificing their bowling might to ensure they have a long batting lineup.
2. Inconsistent batting after the top order
India has two very good openers in Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi waiting in the wings. Ishan Kishan has made the No. 3 spot, but what worries the experts and fans is that the batters following them have not been consistent enough. Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Nitish Reddy, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dube have not shown that they could make runs regularly, barring a few knocks by Tilak. India will need to find batters in the middle overs who can be more regular in run-making.
1. Poor death overs bowling
One of the biggest concerns for India is that, in their need to have batting until the 8th spot, they have weakened their bowling. India gave chances to young bowlers like Mayank Yadav, Prince Yadav, and then Naman Dhir, while all-rounders Shivam Dube and Nitish Reddy all bowled, and got hit brutally by Windies batters. India failed to defend 249 in one T20I while conceding 247 runs in another match. India will need to address this concern sooner rather than later.
