IND v Wi: 1st ODI PREVIEW

Ind have finally managed to win a ODI series in SENA countries after 3 years. They were routed in Aus, Nz and SA in the last 3 series they played. Going ahead atleast 6 major players have been rested for the ODI leg of the WI tour. With a packed schedule and 2 important t20 tournamnets lined up in next 3 months it was a wise move by the management and selectors to field a fresh side. With Pant, KL, Hardik and Jadeja, India's middle order looks strong and probably they will play with same combination till the 50 over WC next year. They even have SKY and Iyer as backups. Hence this series doesn't serve much purpose in view of the 50 over WC but it opens a great opportunity for the likes of Hooda, Gill, Samson and Ruturaj to showcase their talent. Its going to be interesting to see who the team management prefers along with Shikhar for the opening spot. Coming to the bowling department, Prasidh Krishna had a great series against the same opponents at home in February this year. Along with Avesh and Siraj they are going to form a potent bowling attack.

WI have played 5 ODI series this year and have managed to win only against NED. They suffered a home loss against Ireland, Bangladesh and in Pakistan and India. Since the start of 2020, they have played 10 ODI series and won only 3. With the retirement of Pollard and unavailability of Lewis and Hetymer the Windies side have suffered a huge setback. There have been few good performaces at an individual level from the likes of Brooks and Hossein but overall they are a highly inconsistent unit.

Probable XI

India

Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubhman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

West Indies

Shai Hope, Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Nicholas Pooran (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Romario Shephard, Jason Holder, Akeal Hossein, Gudakesh Moite, Jayden Seales

Venue

Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Total matches - 69
Matches won batting first - 30
Matches won bowling first - 34

Average 1st Inns scores - 217
Average 2nd Inns scores - 177

Highest total recorded - 413/5 by IND vs BER
Lowest total recorded - 75/10 by CAN vs ZIM

Head to Head

Overall: IND leads by 67-63
In WI: WI leads by 20-16
Last 10 matches: IND leads by 9-1

Match Ups

Dhawan v Holder: 155/1 at 106 SR
Dhawan v Alzarri: 56/2 at 127 SR
Iyer v Holder: 39/1 at 78 SR
Hope v Chahal: 60/1 at 56 SR

Brooks v Chahal: 18/1
Pooran v Chahal: 15/1
Pooran v Krishna: 12/1

Form Update
(last 5 innings)

Key Players & Fantasy Picks

Captain & Vice Captain

Shai Hope: He is the 3rd fastest batsman to reach 4000 ODI runs in terms of innings (88). He is the glue in this Windies line up. He has gone through a little decline in last 18 months as he is averaging just a touch above 40 since 2021 compared to his career average of 50. Hope averages 45 against Ind with 2 centuries and 4 half centuries.

Shikhar Dhawan: Since 2020, Dhawan is averaging 50 in the format across 19 innings. He is the most experienced batter in the side and is going to play his 150th ODI inning. Only Kohli and Amla had more runs after 150 ODI innings

Yuzvendra Chahal: He has been of the consistent spinners in this format in last 5 years. He took a 4 wkt haul against Eng in the 2nd ODI and with that now has a 4 wkt haul in 3 out of the 4 SENA countries with a career best figures of 6/42 in AUS. Given the nauture of wkts in the carrebean and Windies batter's struggles against the spin he has a huge role to play in the series.

Budget Picks
(Fantasy rating - 8/8.5 points)

Akeal Hossein: He has been Windies best spinner in ODIS for a while. He has picked 36 wkts since 2021 which is the most by any WI bolwer since 2021 at an impressive eco of 4.5.

Wild Card

Nicholas Pooran: He is averaging 16 this year in ODIs but had an amazing t20i series against Ind earlier this year and a decent IPL against these bowlers,

Fantasy XI