The Men in Blue have conquered England and are now on their way to the Caribbean. The BCCI recently announced an 18-man squad for the T20Is against West Indies. Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are rested while R Ashwin is back in the T20I squad. India will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is on their tour of West Indies. While many of the regulars are missing from the ODI squad, Shikhar Dhawan will be seen leading the men in blue. With the in-form Hardik Pandya, and big-impact player Rishabh Pant missing, who will be the key players for India in the ODIs?
India’s opening combination – Dhawan and who?
Here are the options for the opening slot – Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan have both played 3 ODI innings each while Ruturaj Gaikwad is yet to make his ODI debut.
The last time Gill opened the innings for India in a one-day international was in 2020 against Australia at the Manuka Oval where he scored 33 off 39 balls.
Gill has been the top choice for the opening position in Tests for quite some time now. However, given the top-order’s recent performance against England in the ODIs, we reckon Ishan Kishan would be the better choice.
Shreyas Iyer at number 3 for Virat
There have been many questions raised over Virat Kohli’s exclusion from the T20I squad. Is he rested or dropped?
Nevertheless, Shryeas Iyer has a great opportunity to make a big impression as a number 3 batsman.
Milestone Alert!
The 27-year old is just 53 runs away from reaching the 1000-runs milestone in one-day internationals. Shreyas Iyer will become the 3rd fastest Indian player to reach 1000 runs achieving this feat in just 25 innings.
Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored their first 1000 ODI runs in 24 innings.
The last time Shreyas Iyer played against West Indies, he was the man of the match for his 80-runs inning at number 4.
Sir Ravindra Jadeja – the hero India deserves!
Ravindra Jadeja’s a true match-winner. There is hardly anyone who wouldn’t accept this proposition. Once called a bits and pieces player by a former Indian cricket on air, Jadeja responded in the best way he can.
Whether it is fielding in the deep, bowling economical overs in the middle, or delivering those mind-boggling finishes, Sir Jadeja does it all.
In the current ODI squad for the West Indies tour, Ravindra Jadeja would play a key role. Jadeja’s left-arm orthodox bowling is likely to make an impact on these slow pitches in the Caribbean.
Yuzvendra Chahal with the wrong’un
If these pitches can offer a left-arm orthodox bowler anything, you can only imagine the kind of havoc Yuzi Chahal would wreck with his leg-breaks.
Chahal bagged 7 wickets in the recent ODI series against England at an average of 18.71. His role with the ball cannot be stressed enough as his uncanny ability to deliver a breakthrough at any point in the game is India’s biggest asset.
SKY’s the limit for Surya
Suryakumar Yadav had to knock on the door for years before he was let in the international side. He scored at an average of 52.00 against West Indies in the home series in February 2022.
With most of India’s senior and experienced players missing from this squad, Suryakumar Yadav along with Shreyas Iyer will have a huge role to play in the middle-order.
He wasn’t so impressive against England in the recent ODI series and will be eager to change things around quickly.
Other worthy mentions in our list for players to watch out for include Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Sanju Samson (if he makes the XI).
WI vs IND Betting Tips – Back India to win the 1st ODI (22nd July, 7 pm IST)
The home team suffered a huge 0-3 loss in their last ODI series against Bangladesh at home. Though India’s missing their ODI regulars, they start as big favorites to win at 1.36 odds.
Windies’ batting was a disaster and a series against India is not the ideal thing for a comeback.
India to be the best batsman’s team at 1.448 on 22Bet. The bookmaker offers the best odds and variety of markets.
Will Shreyas Iyer reach the 1000-runs mark in the 1st ODI to become the 3rd fastest Indian to reach the milestone?
Back the KKR captain to score 50 runs at 2.26 odds.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s current form makes him our favorite to be the top India bowler at 3.64.
India, naturally, is our choice to be the team with the top bowler in the match at 1.47.
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi