India vs West Indies 1st ODI Prediction

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With Shardul Thakur ruled out through injury once again, after only managing to bowl ten balls on his test debut against the West Indies, he has been replaced in the squad by in-form Umesh Yadav. Umesh’s career-best match figures in the second test put him in the frame for the ODIs too, but he has so far failed to hold down a regular spot in the one-day team.

Blessed with so much one-day talent, the India team for the ODIs has a very different look to the test squad, with the likes of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu all coming into the team. Rishabh Pant is expected to make his ODI debut, meanwhile, having been called up to the squad in place of Dinesh Karthik. Dhoni will be behind the stumps, however. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have both been rested.

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Rohit Sharma, ranked number two in the world, was in brilliant form during the Asia Cup, having also hit an unbeaten century in India’s sole ODI win during their series in England. He hit scores of 23, 52, 83*, 111* and 48 in his five matches in the Asia Cup as India lifted the trophy.

Team-mate Virat Kohli, who sat out the Asia Cup, remains the number-one ODI batsman in the world, however. Kohli hit two ODI scores of 70+ in the tour of England as he continued to prove his consistency, having previously hit a stunning three centuries in six matches during the series with South Africa. Kohli hit 558 runs in total, at a strike rate of 99.46, and finished the series with an average of 186.

Shikhar Dhawan was the top scorer in the Asia Cup, meanwhile - he hit two centuries in five matches and now has 480 runs in his last nine matches at better than a run a ball.

India’s bowlers have also excelled of late. Kuldeep Yadav was one of three bowlers to claim ten wickets at the Asia Cup, with his mystery spin, while Ravindra Jadeja claimed seven. Kuldeep also took 16 wickets in the dominant series win in South Africa and claimed nine in the series in England, including a match-winning 6-25 in the first game.

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India bounced back from their series defeat in England - ending a run of nine bilateral ODI series victories across the previous three years - by winning the Asia Cup last time out.

They headed to England on the back of a dominant 5-1 series win in South Africa, where Virat Kohli hit three centuries and the bowlers regularly ripped through South Africa’s batting line-up. And, when Kuldeep Yadav hit 6-25 and Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten century in the first ODI in England, things looked good. England hit back to win the next two matches and claim a 2-1 series win but India came back strong.

In the UAE, they beat Hong Kong thanks to Shikhar Dhawan’s century and Pakistan courtesy of some excellent bowling led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-15) to top their first Group. Then, in the Super Fours, they beat Bangladesh by seven wickets and Pakistan by nine - Dhawan hittinganother century - before a thrilling tie with Afghanistan in the final match to book their place in the final. There, they faced Bangladesh again and Kuldeep Yadav took 3/45 to restrict them to 222, before Kedar Jadhav scored a leg bye off the final ball to claim a three-wicket win.