India vs West Indies: From Shreyas Iyer to Deepak Chahar, five players to watch out for in upcoming T20I series

After a month and half of the ICC Cricket World Cup carnival in England which concluded on 14 July, India and West Indies will shift their focus to T20Is with an eye on next year’s T20 World Cup. With the first of the three T20Is set to be played on Saturday in Lauderhill, Florida, the much-debated topic for discussion would be the middle-order, which was hugely criticised during the 10-team tournament recently. [caption id=“attachment_4258325” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of Shreyas Iyer. AP[/caption] While MS Dhoni has made himself unavailable for the series, it will be the perfect opportunity for the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar, among others, to prove their worth in cricket’s shortest format. Here, we look at five players who could make an impact on the upcoming series. Virat Kohli The India captain has broken almost every possible record and reached new heights in international cricket. However, despite having 20 half-centuries and a strike rate of 137.4, the 30-year-old is yet to register a century in T20 internationals. What’s more, the right-handed batsman will be entering the series following the conclusion of two major tournaments-the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 464 and 442 runs altogether respectively. Kohli has enjoyed quite a decent run against West Indies. Between 2011 and 2017, he has scored 212 runs in six matches with a powerful strike rate of 161. Known for playing the right game in right situations and stepping up during pressure moments, Kohli will undoubtedly be hungry for more success in the coming series and might want to add a much-awaited T20I century to his name. Shreyas Iyer Making a comeback to India’s T20I squad after nearly two years, Shreyas Iyer will be hoping to accelerate to his best form in the upcoming T20Is against the Windies. Iyer has not enjoyed much success in his short T20I career, but the 24-year-old’s domestic T20 record speaks volumes, having scored 1978 runs in 78 matches at a strike rate of 134. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see where the youngster would bat in the line-up. Iyer has batted in positions three, four and five- although the right-handed batsman has only batted twice when India have been two down or more. While he has registered scores of 23, 24 and 30 whilst batting in number three, he was dismissed for a golden duck in the only instance he has batted in number five in T20Is-Against Sri Lanka back in 2017. Also recently, the flamboyant batsman registered scores of 47 and 61 for India ‘A’ in the unofficial ODIs against West Indies ‘A’- both coming in huge winning causes. To summarise, it could be a matter of Iyer batting at number three, even ahead of Virat Kohli, but would he be a suitable batsman for that position? Rishabh Pant He may have endured a mixed T20I career so far, but it would be safe to note that his lone fifty for India came against West Indies when they toured India in November 2018. Touted as MS Dhoni’s successor, Pant has shown glimpses of what he could produce while representing Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the past few years. At a young age of 21, scoring 1736 runs over four seasons in the IPL at a rocketing strike rate of 162.69 is no small feat. Having said that, once the southpaw gets going, he would be almost unstoppable to be dismissed. That could well be the solution for someone who has already been dismissed eight times in single figures in his short T20I career of 15 matches. Washington Sundar Having come into the limelight during the Indian Premier League in 2017 with the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, Washington Sundar had a memorable debut for India in the T20I circuit, registering figures of 1-22 against Sri Lanka in a match-winning cause. Notably, the 19-year-old ended as the highest wicket-taker in India’s successful Nidahas Trophy, picking up eight wickets including a career-best spell of 3-22 against Bangladesh in the league stage. As a result of his performances, he was declared the man of the tournament. Sundar was recently in the West Indies, where he picked four wickets from three matches against West Indies ‘A’ during India A’s tour. This time though, he, along with Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya will have to step up in the absence of Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya, who have been given breaks following the ICC Cricket World Cup. Deepak Chahar The elder brother of Rahul Chahar, Deepak has not only made his T20I debut before the 19-year-old Rahul but also he has played more IPL matches- 34 to be exact where he has taken 33 wickets. And although Deepak failed to make an impact on the 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons, the 26-year-old had a prolific season with Chennai Super Kings earlier this year, picking up 22 wickets in 17 matches, including career-best figures of 3-20 against Kolkata Knight Riders. The right-arm medium pacer’s record in domestic T20s looks impressive. With 67 wickets in just 59 matches and best figures of 5/15, the Rajasthan bowler would become a nightmare for the Windies batsmen come the T20Is.