IND vs WI : Time for young players to prove themselves

With the absence of top performers like Sachin, Dhoni, Zaheer along with unwell Yuvraj, injured Sehwag and Gambhir, a number of younger players have got a golden opportunity to prove themselves on the international stage.

Because of absence of Dhoni and also the alternate captain Gambhir, Suresh Raina, the outstanding batsman of middle order is in charge. He has to execute the plans as set by the new Indian coach - Duncan Fletcher. For Fletcher, this will be the first tournament as a coach of the World Cup winner team. All popular batsman will be out of the WI series and the new batsmen Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath and Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the team's scoreboard with the captain Raina and outstanding Kohli.

If we talk about bowling, there is not so many changes except Zaheer and Nehra. Ashwin has been doing consistently for past few matches and he is expected to perform the same. No one can ignore the class of bowling he had in IPL final and specially the balls bowled to the most threatening Gayle. Except Zaheer and Nehra, there is another batsman turned bowler whose absence may be significant, the savior of various world cup matches with both bowl and bat - Yuvraj Singh.

The tour will be a tough test but at the same time a golden opportunity for the upcoming players, the newly appointed coach and also for the young captain Raina. With the pressure of maintaining the top position and the reputation the team earned months back in world cup, the series should be a must win for this team.