India’s experimentation likely to continue as rain threat looms large

Will the nightmare ever end for West Indies? While they looked to put their poor show in the World Cup Qualifiers behind them with a good showing against a top side, what they managed was one of their worst-ever performances in an ODI. 

West Indies managed to play out just 23 overs in the first game at Bridgetown, Barbados. With Nicholas Pooran not part of the squad, West Indies lack a proper power-hitter, who can take on the spinners and pacers alike, while Jason Holder’s absence means that West Indies are missing a quality all-rounder.

India approached the first ODI as an experiment, giving plenty of players in the squad a feel of things. To that extent, they opened with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill, with skipper Rohit Sharma batting at seven – for the first time in over a decade. On the other hand, Virat Kohli, did not even have a chance to bat, despite his side losing five wickets.

With that said, brace yourself for a few more tweaks for the second ODI.

Things to watch out for

Who will support Hope?

In 2023, Shai Hope had chosen to bat in the middle-order to make room for Brandon King and Kyle Mayers at the top. Hope at four and Pooran at five made it an exciting middle-order, but with Shimron Hetmyer back in the team, he will have to shoulder the Pooran void. The duo batted well together in the World Cup Qualifiers, and on more than one occasion bailed the team out of tricky situations.

In IPL 2023, Hetmyer donned the role of a finisher quite well, remaining unbeaten in eight out of the 13 innings, striking at over 151. Hetmyer played his first ODI in two years on Thursday (July 27) and West Indies will want him to quickly get into the groove. A firing Hetmyer further relieves the pressure on Hope and at some point down the line, on Pooran as well.

Lucky for West Indies, the ploy to play Hope in the middle-order has paid off as his 564 runs there have come at an average of 62.66 and has got those runs at close to run-a-ball rate, which is a massive improvement indeed.

Moreover, his six-hitting ability too has taken a massive upward curve. Till 2022, his six-hitting ratio was 0.62 per innings, but that has gone up to 1.5 in 2023, further adding firepower to West Indies’ middle-order.

Can Gill overcome the stutter?

Shubman Gill has had a dream 2023, in which he has slammed centuries across formats. He also finished IPL 2023 with the Orange Cap. However, since his last Test ton, he has scores of 13, 18, 6, 10 and 29*, while his ODI numbers too aren’t great, with scores of 20, 0, 37 and 7, since scoring 112 against New Zealand in Indore earlier this year.

While it would be unfair to criticise the talented batter based on just a few low scores, but with Gill earmarked to open in the World Cup, some runs under his belt would ensure that the management breathes a sigh of relief.

He has been below-par especially against deliveries coming in from the fast bowlers, having been dismissed thrice already this year, scoring at under 90 – something he may have to be wary of when he comes up against the likes of Jayden Seales, Dominic Drakes & co.

Pitch and conditions

There is plenty of rain expected for this game, so, that’s not great news for the players and fans. If the forecast is to be believed, the showers are set to wreak havoc even in the lead up to the game.

Given that the turnaround time for the second game is just about two days, and only 46 overs were bowled yesterday, we can expect the pitch to continue being on the slower side. There could be some bounce early on for the fast bowlers, but as the match goes on, the tweakers will come into play.

As many as 10 of the 15 wickets fell to spin in the first ODI, and we can expect them to add to their tally on Saturday (July 29).

Tactical nous

Surya vs Sanju

After the first ODI, the debate if Sanju Samson should be given a go ahead of Suryakumar Yadav has further gained pace. The sweep shot which has brought so many runs for Surya, brought upon his downfall as he tried it once too many. Given what transpired in the first ODI, we may could see more purchase for the spinners in this game. In IPL 2023, only Shivam Dube had a better strike-rate than Sanju Samson (168.46), among batters who have scored at least 50 runs against them.

He could be one of the options to counter spinners in the second ODI. Not to forget, in his limited chances for India in the 50-over format, Samson averages 66, while Surya, who has played more than double the matches, averages less than 24. On paper, it seems like a no-brainer, but hey, we’ve seen the Indian management do funnier things!

How do you play Kuldeep?

Kuldeep Yadav had a dream day in Barbados, taking him just 18 deliveries to pick up four wickets and walk away with the Player of the Match award. The West Indies batters are clearly not picking his googlies, often putting themselves in an awkward position. In the first ODI, Kuldeep bowled nine googlies, picked up three wickets and gave away just one run! Granted, he got three tailenders, it really does serve as a warning sign for the top-order too.

You add the accuracy of Ravindra Jadeja to the XI, you could potentially have one of the deadliest spin attack in the world.

Predicted XI

Experimentation seems to be the theme of this ODI series, with the World Cup around the corner, India are clearly looking to give as many opportunities as possible to a range of players.

While it could be difficult to predict what their exact XI would look like, the likes of Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jaydev Unadkat could certainly be in contention to be in the XI.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav/Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav,/Yuzvendra Chahal Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar/Jaydev Unadkat

As far as West Indies are concerned, they failed collectively as a team and would certainly look to their batters to make a substantial contribution. However, the inclusion of Alzarri Joseph to lend a bit of experience to their bowling attack cannot be ruled out.

West Indies: Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Dominic Drakes, Jayden Seales, Gudakesh Motie