After putting up impressive performances in the whites, Rishabh Pant is gunning for a debut in ODI cricket as a mighty Indian side take on West Indies at the Assam Cricket Association Barsapara Stadium on Sunday.
Pant’s call-up to the ODI squad came on the back of solid performances with the bat since he made his Test debut against England earlier this year. He along with KL Rahul smashed defiant hundreds in the last Test in England and the young left-hander hasn’t stopped since then.
Facing slightly less challenging opponents in the West Indies at home, Pant powered his way to identical scores of 92 in both the Tests that India played few days ago and thus got a deserved call-up to the 50-over side with the 2019 World Cup at hand.
His inclusion comes at the expense of Dinesh Karthik, who was shown the door following a string of low scores and the Delhi wicket-keeper batsman’s selection with MS Dhoni still in the team is a slight indication that the selectors might have picked the 2011 World Cup winning skipper’s replacement, given the fact that the once-feared hard hitter of the ball hasn’t had a good show with the bat in recent times.
Pant would more or less be expected to provide stability to the middle-order which have had its’ fair share of problems in recent times.
India nonetheless would aim at continuing from where they left off in the Test series. Dominating the West Indies in every aspect of the game would be the mantra and with just 18 ODIs to go before the World Cup kicks off next year, every member in Virat Kohli’s would perform in a way which would enable to stake their claims for a place in the XI in England and Wales.
But the story on the other side is different. The West Indies, having been battered in the Test series would aim at redeeming themselves and gearing up for the ODI series where they would have a few new faces in the team–which would be nothing less than a boost for Jason Holder’s side.
The West Indian captain has had to explain every poor performance by the team in the disastrous tour so far but would have a chance to challenge India with the likes of Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo and Andre Russell in the squad.
The first of the five games get underway at 1:30 IST at the Assam Cricket Association Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, K Khaleel Ahmed, Lokesh Rahul, Umesh Yadav
West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Oshane Thomas, Obed McCoy
Image credit- (Virat Kohli)-NDTV Sports
Image credit- (Jason Holder)-The Indian Express