🏏India vs West Indies: 1st ODI at Kensington Oval - 27/07/2023🏏 - Page 4

Teams:

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

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar

8.50am Mukesh Kumar is set for his ODI debut! The right-arm quick, who made his Test debut in Port-of-Spain, has received his maiden cap in the 50-over format.

8.40am There is some big news coming in today with regards to India and their World Cup preparations. No, this is not a drill. Jasprit Bumrah is set to make his comeback after a back surgery. He is likely to be picked for India's three T20Is against Ireland next month.

Wow great news🥳 @ bold

Shai Hope | West Indies captain: Every series means a lot. We've got to play each game and each series to win. Now is a good opportunity to do so against a top team. We've got some quality spinners as well, the aim is to bowl in the right areas, make sure we capitalize on our chances. We dropped a few chances the last time, need to be clinical on the field, and post a good total. Bit of moisture, maybe tricky in the morning. We need to make sure we assess, and post a good total. Oshane Thomas, Alzarri Joseph, Kevin Sinclair and Keacy Carty are out.

Rohit Sharma | India captain: We are gonna field first, no particular reason. We are gonna try a few different things. We want to head into the World Cup with a clear mindset. For us, the results are also important. At times, we are going to try out different players but we don't want to compromise on our results. All cricketers around the world who are playing all formats need to adapt well. Hopefully, we can get what we want here. We have got four seamers and two spinners.

Pitch Report: Samuel Badree and Shakera Selman assess the surface. Mention that the game will be played on pitch no 3. Add that the square boundaries are around 65 metres and the straight boundaries are around 70 metres. Mention that the average score on this ground is 236. State that it is generally a dry surface. Opine that this pitch might have a bit of spongy bounce.

Dhaval: "If India are to go far in the WC, they have to improve their bowling. We have always had world class batting but our bowling has been the biggest issues in big tournaments. We had Zaheer Khan and Bhajji back in 2011. Since then, our bowling has been the issue. I hope we resolve that in these 3 months in the build-up."

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Dhaval: "If India are to go far in the WC, they have to improve their bowling. We have always had world class batting but our bowling has been the biggest issues in big tournaments. We had Zaheer Khan and Bhajji back in 2011. Since then, our bowling has been the issue. I hope we resolve that in these 3 months in the build-up."

Suyog: "@Dhaval, Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Thakur, Pandya, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Chahal, Axar. Isn't this a formidable bowling set provided they all are available for WC."

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Dhaval: "If India are to go far in the WC, they have to improve their bowling. We have always had world class batting but our bowling has been the biggest issues in big tournaments. We had Zaheer Khan and Bhajji back in 2011. Since then, our bowling has been the issue. I hope we resolve that in these 3 months in the build-up."

Rajesh: "Dhaval, far too often its been an issue of batting crumbling under pressure in recent icc tournaments"

9.10am Kyle Mayers: "[On playing at his home venue] It helps a lot. Always lovely playing here. Feel much better coming on from the World Cup qualifiers and now. Looking forward to the challenge. I think sometimes we forget to do the small things well. Specially in the field. It was a close contest, we came close in a few games. This team is a good team. We are just taking one step forward. Moving forward slowly. [On Hetmyer] He is a very good player, his stats speak for himself. Especially against India."

9.15am So the big news for India is that Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav both make the team, meaning there is no place for Sanju Samson. West Indies look a fairly changed-up outfit from the World Cup qualifier.