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Cricket Players'Deserves a look in': India should let promising 25-year-old open in ODIs against West Indies, says former Test opener
India's bench strength will be on display yet again when they face the West Indies in a three-match ODI series.
India are set to put their bench strength to test once again when they face the West Indies in a three-match ODI series starting on Friday. This will be the second time that they will be led by Shikhar Dhawan in a tour, after India's tour of Sri Lanka last year, and the team is devoid of regular stars like captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah.
The absence of Rohit Sharma means that Dhawan will have a new opening partner in the ODI series. Rohit and Dhawan were reunited in the recently concluded series against England and while they did put up an unbeaten 114-run stand in the first match, they couldn't make much of a dent in the second and third matches of the series.
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Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has said that the team should now give 25-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad a go at the top of the order. “I think Ruturaj should make his ODI debut and open with Shikhar in the WI series. Ruturaj scored 4 tons in 5 inns in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, deserves a look in. Also left-right combo stays. #WIvIND” said Jaffer in a tweet on Thursday.
While Gaikwad has become an integral part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League, he has often struggled to transfer that form into his nascent international career. He has played 9 T20Is so far and scored 135 runs at a strike rate of 123.85, scoring one half century thus far.
However, he set the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy ablaze in 2021, scoring four centuries in five matches. He ended as the tournament's top scorer scoring a whopping 603 runs in just five games at an average of 150.75.
