On Thursday, the 14-man Indian cricket team squad has been announced for the first two ODIs of five-match home ODI series against Windies, starting from October 21.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who missed the Asia Cup 2018 in UAE, returns to the ODI squad. The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been selected in the ODI squad, who already played the T20I and Test formats for the country but hasn’t debuted yet in the ODI format. Pant replaced Dinesh Karthik who featured in the Asia Cup 2018.
All-rounders Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya will miss at least the first two ODIs as they haven’t recovered from their respective injuries. However, Jadhav is expected to return to the squad after the second ODI. So, Ravindra Jadeja stays in the ODI squad.
Also read: Windies’ full ODI squad for the India tour in 2018/19
Meanwhile, the Indian pacer Shardul Thakur has recovered from the injury and returned to the squad who was ruled out from the Asia Cup 2018 tournament after their final group stage match against Pakistan.
The young left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed stays in the squad who made his international cricket debut during the Asia Cup 2018 and also impressed with his bowling performances.
The front-line Indian pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah both have been rested from the first two ODIs of the Windies series. Both the pacers, who played in the Asia Cup 2018, are rested too from the ongoing two-match home Test series against Windies. Pacer Mohammed Shami, who missed the Asia Cup 2018 but playing the ongoing Test series, has been selected in the upcoming first two ODIs.
Both the Indian limited-overs openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been selected in the squad, who were in the brilliant batting form during the Asia Cup 2018 but they are rested in the ongoing Test series. KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav all have retained their places in the ODI squad.
The first two ODIs will be played on October 21 and 24 at Guwahati and Visakhapatnam respectively.
Full 14-member Indian squad for the first two ODIs against Windies: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, KL Rahul
Full schedule of five-match ODI series on Windies tour of India 2018/19
October 21: First ODI – Barsapara Cricket Stadium (Guwahati)
October 24: Second ODI – Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium (Visakhapatnam)
October 27: Third ODI – Maharashtra Cricket Association (Pune)
October 29: Fourth ODI – Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai)
November 1: Fifth ODI – Greenfield International Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram)
