Pressing issues like giving more game time to young names and the continued assessment of the preparedness of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will feature high on India’s list during the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, beginning on Sunday, with the shadow of ICC World Cup 2027 looming larger. India are scheduled to play between 14 to 20 ODIs (if a planned series vs SA before WC happens as per plan) ahead of the global showpiece, and they would want to make each one of them count to travel to South Africa with a settled 15.
In contrast, Kohli stands on a firmer ground and will be eager to score 51 runs to become the second batter to score 15000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar. Because shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are in Japan for the Asian Games duty, the management will think hard whether to pair him again with Rohit from match one or continue with the Rohit-Gill combination, now that the left-hander has returned for this series, partially.
Luckily we do have a bit of time now,” said Morkel. But in the ensuing one-dayers against England, Gill reclaimed his opening slot after Kohli’s return but the whole sequence meant that Jaiswal was not even included in the squad. But they are still a few miles away from being finished products, and that makes it mandatory for them to have more real match experience under their belt. “It will be great for Indian cricket if we can develop him, keep on developing him and for him to compete for that all-rounder spot. He’s got all the talent and all the ability to do that.
“For us it’s just again important to manage him quite well, to give him quite a simple role in terms of what he needs to go and do for the team,” he added.
