India play West Indies post the Champions Trophy showdown
The Indians had a good Champions Trophy barring that final. Overall they performed exceptionally well, although they had a few hiccups like a loss to Sri Lanka in the group stages.
Coming as runners-up will be a bitter pill to swallow for team India, albeit Pakistan playing brilliantly in the final. India lost that final by 180 runs.
On the other hand, West Indies who missed the Champions Trophy participation, hosted Afghanistan during that period. The Caribbean team went on to win the T20I series three-nil, but drew the ODI series 1-1 after the third game was washed out.
So the Windies will have to be at their best to have any chances against India.
Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah will be missing this tour for India. They both were integral part of the team during the Champions Trophy. Youngsters like, Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav were included in the squad. Interestingly this would make three wicket-keepers in the squad, as MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik are already there, additional one being Pant.
West Indies, on the other hand have named an unchanged 13 man squad for the first two ODI’s. Fast bowler Shanon Gabriel will continue to miss as he is currently under rehabilitation.
Coming back to the first One-Day International, it will take place at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. It will be a day game and will begin at 6:30 PM IST.
Prediction
India should beat the West Indies in the first ODI as they are in good form in One-Day cricket off late, albeit being on the loosing end in the recently concluded Champions Trophy final. Although the West Indies are more than capable of surprising the Indians.
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