England vs India 1st ODI: Kuldeep expected to figure in final XI

With England out of the FIFA World Cup 2018, cricket will become the centre of attraction for fans around England. The clash between two aggressive batting line up’s will seem more interesting to them then the “France vs Croatia” World cup final on Sunday. Hosts England will take on team India in a three match ODI series that begins from Thursday at Nottingham from 1700 hrs IST.

The two top teams in world cricket face each other in an enthralling series. Both Eoin Morgan and Virat Kohli would love to see where their sides stand, keeping the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in mind. India relish an edge over England as they have a weapon named “momentum” which they earned in the three match T20 series against England.

As stated by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, India has one of the best batting line up in the world. The only area of concern being the number four slot which is likely to be filled by the skipper himself. There is no reason Virat Kohli would tweak with the batting combinations. He is the only player who can satisfy the number four slot adding solidity and stability to a predominantly aggressive batting outfit.

India will undoubtedly miss the services of Jasprit Bumrah. The death seems vulnerable without the pacers name on the team sheet. Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav need to perform well on these batsman friendly pitches in order to get positive results for team India.

On the other hand, England will miss services of Chris Woakes who adds great value to the side with his accurate death bowling. In England, if you err with your length, you can go for plenty. In the batting perspective, the hosts boast of a long batting line up which can cause severe headaches to the opposition. The recently concluded series with Australia is a fitting example of how destructive England batsman can become on any given day.

Also read: Saurav Ganguly: Virat Kohli should bat at number four in ODIs

India will bring in Kuldeep Yadav who was dropped in the last T20 International at Bristol. With a slight niggle to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, there are chances of Shardul Thakur making it to the playing XI. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see who Virat Kohli favours in the lower middle order, Dinesh Karthik or Suresh Raina.

England will have the services of Mark Wood who will open the bowling attack with David Willey. The difficult part for Eoin Morgan is to fit Ben Stokes in the playing XI. If Stokes is fit enough to bowl ten overs, Moeen Ali might be left out.

England (Possible XI) – Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

India (Possible XI) – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav