Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif commented on the combination ahead of the T20Is against the West Indies. The five-match series will begin on Tuesday, October 6. The Indian T20I team is currently playing in the Asian Games 2026 cricket
event. In the semi-final, they beat Sri Lanka by 124 runs as well. Team India played Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Sanju Samson together in the playing XI. Therefore, Mohammad Kaif said the same combination could work in the home series against the West Indies as well.

“VVS will not be the coach when they come back. But Shreyas will be the captain, right? So I think Shreyas Iyer should take that call and play these three batters and work the combination. If they have found a way, they should look at it even if the coach is different. Even if one of these three fires on the day, India will win games,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

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“I told this before also that all three should play together. You cannot keep Suryavanshi out. He is ready and does not need grooming. You will see Vaibhav, Abhishek and Sanju playing together. However, I would keep the left-right combination and stick to Abhishek and Sanju opening. Ishan played at five and scored 80, so the flexibility is there. I am happy that VVS showed that this combination can work,” he shared again.

On a flat pitch in the second ODI against the West Indies in Guwahati, the Indian bowlers conceded too many runs. West Indies posted a huge total of 405/7. Mohammad Kaif added that batting depth was not needed on flat tracks as well.

“You have to pick the team according to conditions. On a flat pitch like in Guwahati, you don’t need batting depth. You can have batting till seven and play proper bowlers. If you play a good bowling team, you will not need that batting. Anyway you won’t need a lot of batting with the top five being Gill, Rohit, Virat, Shreyas, and KL. On a seaming track, you play an extra batter. This is not rocket science. It was a turning track and VVS filled the team with more batting. This is a simple logic. On flat tracks, more bowling means main bowlers, not part-timers,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.