Not for the first time, an Indian cricket team has departed from a tour of England straight to the Caribbean to contest a short white-ball contest with West Indies.
In 2013, after winning the ICC Champions Trophy, MS Dhoni’s team flew from London to Kingston to play an ODI tri-series and four summers later, after losing the final of the same tournament, India again made the journey from England to the West Indies for short tour comprising ODIs and T20Is.
Cut to 2022, and an Indian outfit captained by Shikhar Dhawan is back in the Caribbean after a tour of England to play three ODIs (followed by five T20Is, in which Rohit Sharma will be back to lead) starting with the series opener on Friday July 22 at Port of Spain.
India beat England by 2-1 margins in the recent T20Is and ODIs but key personnel have been rested for this tour.
From the ODI squad, those who will not feature are Rohit, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah; and for the T20Is that follow, India will be without Kohli, Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal. But India, even with this current squad, will be a handful for a West Indies outfit which just lost an ODI series 0-3 at home to Bangladesh and to sit on a six-match losing run.
In 2022, West Indies have won only four of 15 ODIs – three versus Netherlands and the other over Ireland. The fact that the selectors have not dropped any of the struggling batsmen or added reinforcements indicates a lack of options, and given India’s array of bowling options for these three ODIs, the odds are placed firmly against the home team.
TEAM NEWS
Holder’s return is a boost for West Indies, who struggled for all-round impact during the series loss to Bangladesh. With the pace pair of Romario Shepherd and Anderson Phillip dropped, there are opportunities for Jayden Seales and Keemo Paul to hold down their spots.
The batting, however, does not inspire much hope on current form. From the Bangladesh ODIs, the leading run-getter for West Indies was skipper Nicholas Pooran with 91 from three innings, including the solitary half-century from the series. With no new batsman named in the current squad, the likes of Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Shamarh Brooks, Brandon King, Pooran and Rovman Powell will have to improve significantly.
West Indies likely XI: 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Brandon King, 5 Nicholas Pooran (capt), 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10, Gudakesh Motie, 11 Jayden Seales
In Rohit’s absence, it is likely that India will bring back Ishan Kishan to open with Dhawan. Kishan, also a left-handed batsman, has played just three ODIs in his short India career but appears to have impressed the team management enough with his T20I performances. The other openers in the ODI squad are the uncapped Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill, whose last ODI was in 2020. Kishan is also a wicketkeeper, but India also have Sanju Samson to pick from and he could slot into the middle order.
With the beleaguered Kohli also rested, the No 3 spot is open and despite a lean run of late it is likely that Shreyas Iyer gets the nod to fill in. No Pandya and Pant opens up room for Deepak Hooda to play his third ODI. Ravindra Jadeja (named vice-captain for the series) and Axar Patel will fill the allrounder roles on pitches expected to aid spin.
India likely XI: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
PITCH & CONDITIONS
Pooran, after the ODI series loss to Bangladesh, was critical of the pitches at Guyana’s Providence Stadium on which Bangladesh thrice chased down low totals. It is unlikely that Queen’s Park Oval, the venue for all three ODIs, will be as subcontinental in nature but an average innings score of 217 there suggests that batting is not that easy. Spin will definitely come into play, which is why India’s reliance on Jadeja, Axar and Hooda is obvious whereas for West Indies, the left-arm pair of Akeal Hosein (the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing ICC ODI Super League) and rookie Gudakesh Motie can be expected to be a threat.
PREDICTION
Given the momentum achieved from defeating England in the recent ODIs and T20Is, and coupled with West Indies’ poor run this year, expect India to dominate the series. At best, 3-0 to Dhawan’s team, or 2-1 if West Indies’ batsmen can collectively overhaul one of the totals set at Queen’s Park Oval.
