India look to assert dominance against inexperienced Windies

GUWAHATI, India: An inexperienced Windies side may have it tough against a strong India, who will look to get off to a winning start in the first of five One-day Internationals here on Sunday (today).

India will be bursting with confidence not only because they recently handed the visitors a drubbing in the two Tests but also because they’ve been in great form in the 50-over format, as evidenced by their victory in the Asia Cup 2018 in the United Arab Emirates.

India did lose the three-match ODI series in England by a 2-1 margin, but it was a closely-contested affair between the teams ranked No 1 and No 2 on the ICC ODI team rankings.

Back in home conditions, India will be keen to assert their dominance and bridge the five ratings point gap with England. More importantly, with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on the horizon, it provides both teams with opportunities to test and decide on team dynamics.

Windies’ fortunes have been dwindling in ODI cricket – they had to compete in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers to book themselves a berth in the World Cup 2019. Their squad features plenty of new faces – Fabian Allen, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Oshane Thomas and Obed McCoy have never played international cricket.

This series provides them with the platform to make a mark on the international stage against one of the best teams on the international circuit.

In their most recent ODI assignment, Windies lost 1-2 against Bangladesh at home even though they boasted names like Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis opening the batting, neither of whom are in the squad for this series. It will be interesting to see how they make up for the absence of those two.

They will be up against a formidable bowling attack featuring names like Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav in the pace department, and a threatening spin attack with Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav in the ranks.

India look a lot more settled, and it speaks volumes of the depth in their ranks that they won the Asia Cup despite playing without their lead batsman, Virat Kohli. In the Tests, Kohli looked in exceptional form and the captain will be hungry to get going in the ODIs too.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be the openers, and with Kohli in at No 3, it makes for an excellent top-order. The middle-order, however, has mild areas of concern.

MS Dhoni has been a bit hot-and-cold in ODIs of late and he will want to return to consistent scoring ways. India have also included another wicketkeeper-batsman in Rishabh Pant and the uncapped youngster is set to get his shot at No 4, which has long been a problem area for India. One expects Dhoni to keep the gloves though.

For Windies, it will be extremely important that the established players such as captain Jason Holder, Marlon Samuels and Kemar Roach guide the way for an entire batch of upcoming cricketers, most of the whom are coming off productive seasons in the Caribbean Premier League. There is a lot of talent in the Windies ranks, and they will be raring to prove themselves.