Rohit Sharma is set to captain India in the country’s historic 1000th ODI when the Men In Blue take the field against West Indies on 6th February at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
India played their first ODI match in 1974 against England at Headingley under Ajit Wadekar’s leadership. Kapil Dev was the captain in India’s 100th ODI. Sourav Ganguly led India in the 500th ODI while MS Dhoni captained the team in the 700th, 800th and 900th ODI matches.
Having played 999 ODIs so far, India will become the first team to play 1000 ODIs in the history of the sport. Second are Australia with 958 ODI matches, followed by Pakistan who have the third-most number of ODIs, 936.
However, it is Australia who have won the most number of ODIs – 581. India have emerged victorious in 518 ODIs while Pakistan have won 490 matches.
It is also a big occasion for Rohit Sharma who will captain in the ODI for the first time as India’s full-time ODI captain after he missed the South Africa tour due to a hamstring injury, of which he has recovered and is set to lead the team in the ODI and the following T20I series.
While young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi has been given his maiden India call-up, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav gets a recall to the national side in the ODIs. Batting allrounder Deepak Hooda has also been named in the squad, having impressed the selectors. Pacer Avesh Khan is another youngster in the squad to face the West Indies.
Kuldeep comeback into the ODI side comes after Indian spinners were rendered non-threatening in the middle-overs by the South African batters.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been left out of the ODI squad with Deepak Chahar impressing in the third ODI against South Africa. Washington Sundar also returns to India’s set-up after a long layoff due to injury and then covid. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been rested.
India ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
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