IND vs WI 2nd ODI PREVIEW

India recorded a 6-wicket win in their 1000th ODI in style which also happened to be the first assignment for Rohit Sharma as a full time ODI captain. "I don't believe in a perfect game, you cannot be perfect" where his words after the game. It wasn't easy for the Men in Maroon either. They just won a T20 series against England and had to turn up for the 1st One Day after 3 days of quarantine and just one practice session. But the problem runs much deeper than the reason behind their performance on Sunday. 
        West Indies haven't been able to bat for entire 50 overs for a while now. This was also stressed by captain Pollard who was quite harsh on the batsmen including himself while making this point. Apart from Shai Hope and Lewis, no batter averages in the excess of 40 since 2019 WC. Their most experienced batter and the captain himself is averaging 27 from 18 innings. Darren Bravo averages 27 from 10 innings. The other 2 options in Chase and Hetmyer have also averaged 26 and 24 respectively in this period. Brooks was impressive in the Ireland series and is expected to bat at 4 in the remaining 2 games. One positive that WI can take from the last game is the fight put up by lower order after being 6 down on 70-odd runs when the ball was assisting Sundar and Chahal a lot. Jason Holder once again took a stand and showed why he is the best batsman in the side. WI did manage to pull things back a little but it was quite late in the game after the start given by Rohit Sharma and lack of runs on the board.
         The Toss will again play a major factor as addressed by both the captains in post match presentation.  India will have just one change in the side with KL Rahul coming back. It will be interesting to see who gets dropped-Ishan or Hooda. In all likelihood, it may be Ishan and KL will be back at the top.
 WI may go unchanged. They have a good balance in their 11 with a mix of 3-4 all rounders. They bat very deep with someone like Alzaari Joseph at 10. Joseph has shown tremendous potential with the bat at Test level with half centuries in New Zealand and Bangladesh. No reason that it can't be replicated in the shorter format. WI are now placed at 8th in Super League points table. Remaining 2 ODIs are going to be significant regarding the qualification scenario for 2023 WC.

Probable XI

India: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan/KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzi Chahal, Mohammed Siraj

West Indies: Shai Hope, Brandon King, Darren Bravo, Sharmrah Brooks, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Fabien Allen, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Akeil Hosein, Alzaari Joseph

Pitch Report

Ahmedabad pitch is expected to assist spinners a little more than the seamers here and both teams might field an extra spin option here. Even though the teams defending here have a slightly better win-rate, the dew factor might force the Toss winner to chase on this ground.

Head to Head
Overall: India leads 65-63
In India: India leads 30-28
Last 10 games: India leads 8-1
 

Match Ups

India
Kohli vs Holder: 223 runs at Average 55.8
Kohli vs Roach: 274 runs for 2 dismissals
Kohli vs Allen: 71 runs for no dismissals 
Rohit vs Alzarri: 42 runs for 2 dismissals
Rohit vs Roach: 221 runs for 3 dismissals 

West Indies
Hope vs Chahal: 51 runs off 93 balls with no dismissals
Holder vs Chahal: 45 runs for 2 dismissals

Form Update
(runs in last 5 ODI innings)

269: Rohit Sharma
197: Suryakumar
190: Rishabh Pant
140: Darren Bravo
131: Virat Kohli
122: Jason Holder
121: Shai Hope
111: Kieron Pollard
110: Brandon King
  37: N Pooran

Key Players

West Indies
Shai Hope: Sunday was an aberration for Asia's Bradman. He has 6 hundreds and 5 fifties in asia. It will be a rare sight if he fails again in the series.

Jason Holder: He has taken only 2 wkts in his last 8 ODIs. With Kemar Roach making a comeback in the side after 2.5 years, the onus of providing early breakthroughs solely depends on him.

Akeil Hosein: Was the most economical bowler for West Indies in the 1st ODI. Allen-Hosein bowling in tandem against SKY and Pant in middle overs could play a major part in deciding the course of the game.

India
Chahal and Sundar: Chahal acknowledged Washi's role after he saw him pick 2 early wickets and explained how he kept turning at pace that resulted in him scalping 4 big wickets. Washi's role comes into play against Pooran and Bravo who are considered better players of spin.

Krishna and Siraj: After many moons, India in ODIs did not concede more than 50 runs in powerplay and also took a wicket. You can read India's issues in Powerplay here. They both ended up with combined figures of 55/3 from 18 overs. 

Fantasy XI
-Allen can come in if you can drop a WK from the XI.
-Kohli could do wonders in his 250th ODI inning