BCCI announces India's squad for ODI series against England

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named India’s squad for their upcoming ODI series against England. The Men in Blue, led by Virat Kohli, are currently busy playing in their five-match T20I series after which the 50-overs games are scheduled to get underway on Tuesday, March 23. All the ODIs will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

In their last two ODI series, Virat’s men lost both and they included defeats in five games out of six. In Pune, India have played four ODIs out of which they won two. In the only ODI against the Brits in 2017 at the venue, the hosts won by three wickets after twin tons from Kohli and Kedar Jadhav. Pune last hosted an international game in January 2020 when India and Sri Lanka faced in a T20I.

Eyes on Virat Kohli  

For the upcoming series, eyes will be on Kohli, who hasn’t scored a single century since August 2019. Shreyas Iyer showed temperament of the highest quality in the first T20I after India lost early wickets. He scored a 48-ball 67, but couldn’t save his team from a loss. Iyer has 807 runs in ODIs with one ton and eight fifties.

Rishabh Pant hasn’t played an ODI for over 14 months and the southpaw will be looking to make a mark. The youngster was in jaw-dropping form in the Test series and also showed his audacity in the opening T20I when he reverse-swept Jofra Archer for a six over the third man region. Hardik Pandya was India’s star performer on the Australia tour and he will be looking to replicate something similar.

The onus will also be on Rohit Sharma, who has an ODI average of 50.44 against England from 13 games with two centuries. The bowling department has adequate experience, having Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal in the ranks.

Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya are among the surprising inclusions. Mohammed Siraj and Suryakumar Yadav also found their names in the squad.

Here’s India’s squad

Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul (WK), Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur