It has become a tough task to the Indian team management to select the players for the upcoming first Test against West Indies. India looks to maintain its unbeaten records in the upcoming two Tests. A perfect decision should be made regarding the selection of the players before going for a clash.
One of the huge element headed into their mind is whether to play the game with six batsmen or five along with a wicketkeeper. If they would go with six batsmen then, India will have to sacrifice one specialist bowler, that would be a spinner. A choice has to be made between Rohit Sharma and Hanuma Vihari over the sixth batsman.
However, it will be a tough task to choose between Rohit and Vihari as both of them have scored fab fifty in the warm-up game.
Looking at the struggle of the Indian Team Management, former India opener Virender Sehwag has come up with a solution. He has backed Rohit and took Vihari in No.6 position.
“India will have a look at the wicket and if it is good for batting, they (India) can pick five batsmen with a wicketkeeper and have five bowlers. It’s the World Test Championship, so winning is more important than to play for a draw,” – Virender Sehwag told.
“Who played at no. 6 in the last series? Four is Virat, five is Rahane and six could be Hanuma Vihari because he can bowl a few overs too. But if you ask me, I will pick Rohit Sharma because he has the ability to score big hits. If there comes a stage where you are closing in on declaration, he can score those quick runs,” – Sehwag added.
India is likely to go into the game with just one specialist spinner. There will be a toss-up between Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav. Ravindra Jadeja is also an option but he is below Ashwin and Kuldeep in the picking order. Virender Sehwag said that he would prefer Ashwin over Kuldeep.
“I would prefer to play the best available spinner and I believe Ashwin is our best spinner ahead of Kuldeep. He (Ashwin) may soon break Harbhajan’s record of 417 wickets in Test cricket. If he is the best, he should play and in the West Indies, you are likely to get wickets similar to what you get in India. We all know how well he has bowled in India,” -Sehwag said.
