The highly anticipated ODI series between India and England is set to get underway on Thursday, with the first of the three matches taking place at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
India will come into the 50-over series brimming with confidence after wrapping up the five-match T20I series 4-1 with a thumping victory at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai last weekend.
Match preview
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India maintained their unbeaten series record in the shortest format of the game since their World Cup triumph last Sunday when Abhishek Sharma stole the show with a mesmerising display of aggressive batting at the top of the order.
The opener struck an incredible 54-ball 135 which included 13 sixes, marking the highest score by an Indian batsman in T20 internationals, and led the charge to a record 150-run victory over England.
The Men in Blue now return to the 50-over game where they hold the number one spot on the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings with a rating of 118 despite losing to Sri Lanka 2-0 in their last series in this format back in August last year.
Gautam Gambhir will also be able to welcome back a host of star-studded players for the three-match series, including the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma, as well as stalwarts Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, to bolster the lineup with both bat and ball in hand.
Notably, though, India have only played two series in the 50-over format and both were scheduled away from home since their ODI World Cup 2023 campaign, and these three matches will be crucial to fine-tuning the squad ahead of the all-important ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
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Meanwhile, England will enter this match ranked seventh on the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings with a rating of 93, with their last 50-over series ending in a 2-1 defeat to the West Indies in November last year.
The Three Lions were outclassed by India in the final T20I in Mumbai, where despite wicket-keeper Phil Salt providing them a solid start (55 of 23), wickets fell at regular intervals, with Jacob Bethell ending as the only other batter to reach double digits (10 runs).
The only player to come away from that heavy defeat with his reputation enhanced was Brydon Carse, who mixed up his deliveries expertly to finish the match with 3-38 from his four-over allotment.
England's batsmen struggled mightily against spin during the T20I series loss, losing 29 wickets to the Indian spinners, and all the while their top performer in that area, Joe Root, was shining South Africa's SA20 for Paarl Royals.
Root will return to bolster the top order in this match, but it will be interesting to see if the rest of the batting lineup will fare against what is arguably an even better spin attack which now includes the likes of Jadeja and Washington Sundar to support Axar Patel.
Team News
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Varun Chakravarthy, who bamboozled the English batters in the T20I series and picked up 14 wickets across the five matches, including a five-wicket haul, has been included in the ODI squad.
With Sundar, Patel and Jadeja also called up to the squad, Chakravarthy's inclusion brings the total number of spinners in India's lineup to five, while KL Rahul will add additional firepower to the host batting order.
While Root's return is expected to improve England's middle order against their opponents' variety of spin options, the visitors will still, unfortunately, be without the services of Ben Stokes, who is still on the mend from a hamstring unjust sustained in New Zealand last year.
Additionally, the Three Lions were dealt a significant blow in the T20 series, with wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith picking up an issue with his calf which will see him sit out the first two ODIs.
India squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja
England squad: Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Jos Buttler, Jamie Smith, Philip Salt, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Mark Wood
We say: India to win
While England may fancy their chances in the 50-over format, the manner in which they were outplayed by the Indian spinners and lost the T20 series was extremely uninspiring.
This first match may provide us with a clearer indication of what to expect from the Three Lions in the next two games, but for now, we have to go with the Men in Blue to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Devesh Jaganath
