5 Deserving Indian Players Who Failed To Make The Cut For West Indies ODIs

India have named a strong squad for the upcoming ODI series against West Indies starting from August 3 under the leadership fo Virat Kohli. The ODIs will commence from August 8 at Guyana while Trinidad will host the second and the third ODI on August 11 and 14.

The Men in Blues will be without MS Dhoni while Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar haven’t made it to the squad due to injuries. On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan has recovered from injury on time to be in the plane to West Indies. The BCCI has also decided to rest their premier all-format fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah from the limited-overs leg.

The ODI series will see a few fresh faces in Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Khaleel Ahmed. On the other hand, young fast bowler Navdeep Saini has earned his debut national call. But a few deserving candidates failed to make it to the squad despite performing consistently in the domestic cricket.

Here are the five deserving players who failed to make it to India’s ODI squad:

Also read: West Indies vs India: BCCI Reveals Squad For The Test Series

Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill is the next big thing in Indian cricket. Since the U19 World Cup, Gill has only made upward movements scoring runs for consistently. With KL Rahul suspended, the young batsman made his debut against New Zealand earlier this year. Although he failed to score big but left an impact.

Moreover, Gill had an excellent outing in the IPL and subsequent India A tour of West Indies. He has scored two half-centuries in three games and was one of the front-runners to bag an ODI spot. But it looks like he will have to wait a bit more to add to his tally of two matches.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik has been in the limited-overs squad for quite some time now. However, he has lacked an extended run which has made the life of the wicket-keeper batsman tough. Karthik was in the World Cup squad and played only a handful of games where he failed to leave an impact.

Going by the experience Karthik possess, he would have been an impactful batsman in the lower-order with MS Dhoni’s absence who can score quick runs. The series against West Indies would have been the perfect opportunity for the India management to give him a long run and help him regain his confidence.

Krunal Pandya

Since making his debut for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Krunal Pandya has taken rapid strides making his international debut in the T20Is. But the talented all-rounder is yet to make his debut for India in the fifty-overs format of the game.

The Baroda-born all-rounder has been in good form in recent times. After playing a significant role in Mumbai’s fourth IPL win, Krunal has done wonders for India A squad with both bat and ball. With the selectors looking for some fresh face, Krunal was an ideal option in the limited-overs set-up for a long time.

Axar Patel

Axar Patel, who has played 38 ODIs for India, was one of the strong contenders for an ODI spot. The Gujarat-born all-rounder has been in excellent form in the ongoing series between India A, and West Indies A. Axar has been economical and has picked with wickets besides scoring runs with the bat in the recently concluded series.

Moreover, the 25-year-old has an idea of the surfaces in the Caribbean Island being there for the last few weeks. However, Axar, who last played an ODI in 2017 against New Zealand will have to wait longer to make a comeback to the Indian team.

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has been the most consistent run-scorer in the domestic circuit. Although he made his Test debut in Australia, Agarwal has to wait for more for his debut in the limited-overs cricket. With fresh faces coming into the squad, many expected Agarwal to get a nod considering his conversion rate in List A cricket. He has scored 3605 runs in 75 matches including 12 centuries and 14 fifties.

Moreover, Agarwal made it to the World Cup squad as a replacement for injured Vijay Shankar. This compelled the fans to think that he is in the selector’s plan for the ODI series. But the Karnataka batsman who can bat both in the top-order and in the middle-order was unfortunate not to get a chance.

Also read: West Indies vs India: BCCI Announces Squads For T20I And ODI Series