India are set to host the West Indies in a 3-match ODI series starting Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. However, the hosts had been dealt a major blow just a few days before the first game.
Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad and the reserve bowler Navdeep Saini tested positive for covid-19 along with three other support staff members. These players have been kept in isolation and are all but certain to miss the first ODI.
India will also be without opener and vice-captain KL Rahul, who is unavailable for Sunday’s game. With both Dhawan and Gaikwad testing positive, the selectors added Mayank Agarwal to the squad, and he is likely to slot in straight in the eleven.
Rohit Sharma will lead in the ODIs for the first time since being named as the full-time captain as he’d missed the South Africa tour due to a hamstring injury.
Here’s the playing XI India may field in the first ODI vs West Indies:
Rohit Sharma
Returning after recovering from a hamstring injury, Rohit Sharma will like to set the tone for the series and his captaincy tenure in the first match. Before the injury, Rohit displayed great form in T20Is and the Test series against England, both home and away, and will be hoping to continue with that touch.
Rohit’s hamstring will be tested while running between the wickets in the big ground in Ahmedabad.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal may not have expected this surprising call-up – but he’s here, likely to play his first ODI since November 2020. With Dhawan, Gaikwad, and KL Rahul absence in the first ODI, Agarwal would want to put a case for himself in white-ball cricket; he’s featured in only 5 ODIs so far, making a best score of 32.
However, he will be up against a solid West Indies pace bowling attack. If Agarwal and Rohit can see off the new ball, they could make hay on what is expected to be a bating-friendly surface.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli showed pristine touch with the bat in South Africa, scoring a highly patient and self-resistant 79 in the Cape Town Test before raising two fifties in three ODIs, however, that 71st international century continued to elude him. The fans are expecting their ‘King’ to start the home season on a high note – a century with Kohli is always around the corner.
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant was promoted to number 4 in South Africa and the management is expected to stick with it. The left-hander registered scores of 16, 85, and 0. While he earned a lot of praises for his brilliant 85 in the second ODI, he was heavily criticised and doubted for his duck through a slash, holing down in the deep.
The experiment of Pant at number 4 could be a success if the 23-year-old allows himself some more time in the middle before unleashing his shots.
Suryakumar Yadav
In the – likely – absence of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav would want to grab this opportunity. Yadav has had an impressive start to his India white-ball career and had pipped Iyer, his Mumbai side teammate, for a spot in the T20 team.
Suryakumar had scored 39 in the third ODI versus South Africa but failed to finish the chase.
Deepak Hooda
With Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel all unfit, and following the surprising exclusions of Venkatesh Iyer and R Ashwin after just one ODI series, Deepak Hooda is the only all-rounder picked in the ODI squad. This means that Hooda, a right-handed power hitter who can bowl handy off-spin, can make his ODI debut on Sunday against West Indies.
Captaining Rajasthan, Hooda recently struck a century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In 74 List-A matches, he averages 38 at a strike rate of 93 with the bat, and 27 with the ball.
Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar is back in the Indian set up after a long layoff – due to a finger injury that forced him to miss the second leg of IPL 2021 and the T20 World Cup and then covid-19 that kept him from touring to South Africa. Now, though, he could slot in straight in the eleven as the off-spinning all-rounder – the role which Ashwin and Jayant Yadav performed in South Africa ODI series.
While Sundar has played 31 T20Is, he has only featured in a single ODI game – back in 2017. With uncertainty around Ashwin’s wicket-taking ability in white-ball cricket, this ODI series provides a good opportunity for young Sundar to present his case.
Shardul Thakur/Deepak Chahar
The selectors made a big call by dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the ODI squad after the pacer went wicketless in two ODIs in South Africa. Now, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar will be pitted against for the seam-bowling all-rounder’s role.
Against the Proteas, Thakur played in the first two ODI, scoring unbeaten 50 and 40 but picked one wicket. Chahar, who replaced Thakur in the third game, snared two wickets with the new ball – a trait which India desperately need in ODIs – before stroking an under-pressure fifty to take India close in the run-chase.
Both the players are likely to get match-time against West Indies, but it’d be interesting to see who the management goes with in the first ODI.
Kuldeep Yadav
The ineffectiveness of the Indian spinners in South Africa has apparently forced the selectors to bring back Kuldeep Yadav, the chinaman who was India’s trump card going into the 2019 World Cup with a spate of wickets behind him in that phase.
However, since the World Cup, his form dipped and he slowly faded away from both the white-ball teams. Now he has been given another life at the highest level.
Since he has been brought back as an x-factor, one can expect Kuldeep to be picked over Chahal in the first ODI even though he hasn’t played any competitive cricket for the last six months due to a knee injury.
Mohammed Siraj
With India looking for new ball wickets, Mohammed Siraj, who has had an excellent start to his Test career, has been roped in and is likely to bowl with the new ball against the West Indies.
Siraj had a forgettable outing in his debut ODI – back in 2019 against Australia when he conceded 76 runs in 10 wicketless overs. However, as we all know, he is a much-improved bowler than two years ago. Siraj has taken 81 wickets in 46 List-A games.
Prasidh Krishna
As Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami both have been rested, Prasidh Krishna will be the enforcer with the ball, bringing in pace and extra bounce as his characteristics. He made his ODI debut last year against England and snared 4 wickets on debut.
Prasidh Krishna featured in the third ODI versus South Africa in which he picked up three wickets – all with slower balls – in the death overs. Avesh Khan is the other seamer in the ODI squad the management may have a look at.
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