1st T20I: Rohit Sharma-led formidable India eye ODI encore against hapless Windies

With less than three months left for the T20 World Cup, skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid will get around 16 games (5 vs WI, 5 in Asia Cup (if India play final), 3 vs Australia, 3 vs South Africa) to firm up their core team that will then play unchanged going into mega event. The mere thought of a first eleven comprising Rohit, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik as the five specialists batters in the top six can have an intimidating as well as debilitating effect on the opposition. And that too at a time when a player of Virat Kohli's stature has been failing miserably in shortest format and doubts are being cast about his place in the playing XI.

Read AlsoClean sweep against West Indies great signs for young Indian team: Rahul Dravid

India coach Rahul Dravid lauded the "professionalism" of his young outfit which has shown some "great signs" moving forward while routing the West Indies 3-0 in their own backyard in the just-concluded ODI series.

The preceding England series has shown that India's white ball players have that imposing alpha-male like presence out there in the middle even if their best player Kohli is on the wane. Can Deepak Hooda challenge Kohli's position?Thus the five-match series against West Indies, technically being played in three different countries (Trinidad & Tobago, St Kitts & Nevis and USA) will also give us a clear picture whether Kohli's days of invincibility are over or not. Deepak Hooda, whatever little amount of T20Is that he has played, has shown that belongs to this level. He has a hundred opening the innings against Ireland and in the only T20 that he played against England, he looked the part before being forced to relinquish his place to Kohli.