The first ODI of the three-match series between West Indies and India will be played on August 8 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. India has already won the three-match T20I series by a margin of 3-0 and now turns its attention to the 50-over format, which will be their first match after their elimination from World Cup 2019 in semi-finals.
The Indian team will have a similar looking squad for the West Indies ODI series, to what they had in the World Cup, with the exception of MS Dhoni, who has taken a two-month sabbatical and is currently serving the Indian army in Kashmir. Also missing from the line up are the likes of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, both of whom have been rested to manage their workload.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be the openers, given their past record and pedigree at the top. India suffered a bit with Dhawan’s absence at the top in the World Cup, but the left-hander will be looking to get back into touch after scoring just 27 runs in the three T20I matches since his return. Rohit has been in wonderful form as he made a nice 67 in the second T20I match.
Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav are expected to form the crux of the middle order of the team. Kohli has been perhaps the best no.3 batsman in ODI cricket ever, given his amazing record at the spot. KL Rahul had some degree of success at no.4 in the few innings he played at that spot, might have to return at that place due to Dhawan’s return.
While Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav might be the options to accelerate the innings at the death overs, a job that was done by Hardik Pandya in the World Cup, but who has been rested for this series.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja might be the chosen spinners given that India might employ Kedar Jadhav as the third spinning option. The West Indies batsmen have shown that they are not the best players of spin and this might come in a handful during the match.
Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Khaleel Ahmed may get preference as the fast bowlers, given that both Shami and Khaleel bowled well in the T20I series and Shami had a very eventful ICC World Cup, in which he also took a hattrick.
The match will be played at the same ground as the third T20I and the familiarity will come in helpful for the Men in Blue, as they look to get back on track in the ODI format after the World Cup debacle.
COC Predicted Indian team playing XI for the first ODI:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed
