To say that India have thoroughly dominated the West Indies in ODIs in the past 8 years wouldn’t be an exaggeration. The results of the matches between the two teams in this period have been lopsided: since 2015, India have defeated West Indies in 19 ODIs and lost only 3.
The Men In Blue are on a winning run against the Men In Maroon: India have won 9 consecutive ODI matches against West Indies, a streak that started in December 2019. The latest of this victory came on Thursday, when Rohit Sharma’s side downed the hosts by 5 wickets in Barbados.
In a chase of 115 runs, Ishan Kishan blasted an entertaining half-century after the Indian bowlers had skittled the hosts for a lowly score, with Kuldeep Yadav, who bagged the Man of the Match award, returning with stunning figures of 3-2-6-4, and Ravindra Jadeja taking three wickets.
India would want to extend this streak to 10 consecutive wins on Saturday, when the two teams meet again in Barbados for the 2nd ODI, and the visitors would be aiming for another series win over West Indies, though India would continue to experiment with their plans, as Rohit Sharma conveniently said after the win in 1st ODI.
Here is India’s probable playing XI for 2nd ODI vs West Indies:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik/Chahal, Mukesh Kumar.
India are likely to stick with almost the same side from the first ODI. The one change that the fans can expect is bringing in either Axar Patel or Yuzvendra Chahal for one of the three pacers – Shardul or Umran or Mukesh – given the pitch in Barbados assisted the spinners heavily.
With Hardik Pandya performing the new ball pacer’s role well in the first game, and his being able to bowl hit-the-deck bowling as well, an additional spinner could come in at the cost of a seamer.
Suryakumar Yadav is likely to retain his place in the side, for at least one more match as the management would want to give him this series to perform in the ODIs true to his talent and potential. This would mean that Sanju Samson is set to continue remain on the bench.
