Chance for bench players to shine

Having just completed a grueling fourth edition of the Indian Premier League the Indian players will be more than ready to take on the West Indies in the only T20 match on their tour of the Caribbean isles.

There were no more than a few West Indian players in this year's IPL simply because the West Indies were scheduled to play a Test and one-day series against Pakistan and so would not have been available.

Kieron Pollard was the one player who was retained by the Mumbai franchise. And once Chris Gayle found that he did not figure in the scheme of things for West Indies -- having been omitted for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan -- he opted to turn up for the Royal Challengers and ended up winning the player of the tournament award.

One would have thought that after this stand alone performance he would be an automatic selection for the West Indies team that takes on India but he finds that he is dropped for the T20 as well as the first two ODIs and will be considered only after he explains some of his remarks about the West Indies board. India won't be complaining about that since it makes their task easier with Gayle not in the opposition.

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Pollard will be there along with Dwayne Bravo who was released by the West Indies board after the ODIs against Pakistan and they will certainly give their team think tank some info about the Indian players to watch out for.

Suresh Raina the skipper is in tremendous form as is Virat Kohli -- so these two are the batsmen to watch out for because they have the ability to take the game away in a flash with the bat as well as with their brilliance on the field.

India is exceedingly lucky to have two such exciting young, talented players who are still waiting to establish themselves at the test level. Both are also good learners and quick to make the adjustments to their game which speaks highly about their temperament.

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Though the seniors have been rested or are injured the team won't suffer too much especially in the short formats of the game and it is a wonderful chance for the bench players to show that they belong in the squad. Some of the seniors are probably playing their last season and it is a big season indeed with this tour, as well as the ensuing ones to England and Australia in the winter. This tour gives the selectors the opportunity to see how the younger guys cope with the demands of the big game.

The West Indies have drawn a Test series against Pakistan and came back well in the one day series so they will be confident about putting up a good performance in front of their home crowd. As always the opening match can well dictate the way the series is going so well begun is half done.

Professional Management Group