After thrashing West Indies 2-0 in the recently concluded Test series, Team India faced off the Caribbean side in the 50-over format at the Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday (October 21).
Virat Kohli returned to lead India after missing the Asia Cup in UAE last month. In the ODI series opener, the Men in Blue surprisingly dropped Kuldeep Yadav from the playing XI and instead went with Ravindra Jadeja as the second spinner alongside Yuzvendra Chahal. However, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar believes that the Indian captain was forced to play Jadeja due to lack of options.
“It is just how the team is at the moment that he has been forced to play Jadeja. There would have been a third spinner if the pitch would have had a bit more for spinners. But the pitch looks good and you need three seamers. He (Virat Kohli) has actually been forced to play Jadeja," Agarkar told ESPNCricinfo.
"If Jadeja doesn't bowl well, then he has to look for options as to how to go about it. The way the squad is at the moment - there are far too many specialised batsman and specialised bowlers - so Jadeja seems the only player who can do a bit of both. So he has been forced into the selection for the first game," he added.
Just a couple of months ago, Jadeja was left out from the first four Tests against England and hadn’t played white-ball cricket for over a year. Putting all that behind him, the 29-year-old made a stellar comeback by scoring 86* and claiming 7 wickets in the fifth against England at The Oval.
Subsequently, he was called to replace the injured Akshar Patel at the Asia Cup in UAE. Raring to make a mark in limited-overs cricket, Jadeja picked up four wickets against Bangladesh in his first match. Later in the tournament, he played a couple of crucial knocks against Afghanistan and Bangladesh and helped India to retain the title.
Jadeja might have gone for runs on a flat Guwahati pitch but he got the prize scalp of centurion Shimron Heytmer and Rovman Powell.
"Surface looks good. There is bit of grass, I won't say it is green grass but it is present to bind the surface. I don't see this pitch changing and there will be dew in the second half, so we will bowl first. Our batting order is pretty much settled as Rayudu has taken number four spot. We don't need to ponder much. We just need to give more games to the whole group before the World Cup. Rishabh Pant makes his debut. We have three seamers along with Chahal, the wrist spinner and Jadeja to give us balance. The rest of our batting remains the same," Kohli had said at the time of toss.
