Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini are in the running for the third pacer for the two-Test series against the West Indies starting on Wednesday and it will not be easy for the Indian team management to choose between them.
The first Test match will be held at Rossiu’s Windsor Park in Dominica, which has so far hosted five Tests and four ODIs and as many T20 Internationals. The last Test match at this ground was played in 2017, in which Pakistan won by 101 runs within three days.
West Indies have won only one Test match here and that too against a weak Zimbabwe team. In such a situation, the team led by Craig Brathwaite cannot take inspiration from the past performance. In the last Test match played at this ground, Pakistan’s fast bowlers Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Abbas took 11 wickets, while leg-spinner Yasir Shah took eight wickets in both innings.
India are set to go with both spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja while Shardul Thakur will spearhead the pace department along with Mohammed Siraj because of his batting prowess and impressive performance in the World Test Championship final in England.
India also has Akshar Patel in the spin department who is an all-rounder like Jadeja. Although India can land with three fast bowlers. It will not be easy for India to select the third fast bowler as all the three fast bowlers are performing well.
Navdeep Saini has found his rhythm and can bowl long spells without cutting down on his pace. He can prove useful with the Dukes ball on a slow pitch. Unadkat, who has done well in the Ranji Trophy, recently played his second Test match against Bangladesh after 12 years. His left-arm fast bowling can trouble right-handed batsmen.
The claim of 29-year-old Bengal fast bowler Mukesh is also not weak. He has improved his game a lot in the last three seasons and can make good use of the new ball.