Rohit Sharma To Drop KL Rahul, Chakravarthy To Debut? India's Probable XI For 1st ODI Vs England

Rohit to drop KL Rahul? [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X.com]

The T20Is are done and dusted and now the stage is set for the ODI series between India and England and the first game of the series will take place from Nagpur. India will be riding high on confidence after the win and will head into the ODIs with confidence. The same cannot be said about England as they got battered in the T20Is.

The England batters struggled to decode India's spin bowlers and threw away their wickets as Varun Chakravarthy in particular had a great outing in the 5 matches he played. However, ODIs are a different bread and butter stuff and England will feel they can pull off a win in the first ODI. Ahead of the Nagpur match, we look at India's probable XI, with a surprise exclusion.

Gill, Rohit to open, no place for Jaiswal

As expected, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma will open in the first ODI match. Gill is the vice captain and will be the opening partner for captain Rohit. The duo compliment each other really well and have proven to be a match-winning duo.

Both play an attacking brand of cricket and this will be beneficial for the middle order batters to follow. This would mean that Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite being in the form of his life will have to wait for his ODI debut.

Rohit to bank on Pant, no KL Rahul?

Virat Kohli the star batter will play at number 3, and he will look to get back amongst the run-getters ahead of the Champions Trophy. Shreyas Iyer, another batter who had a brilliant World Cup in 2023 will bat at his usual number 4 spot. He will make his return to the Indian side after almost one year.

Hardik Pandya will bat at number 6, and wil play the role of a finisher, which leaves the number 5 spot open. KL Rahul should be the obvious choice, but India doesn't have a left-handed option in the top-6 and hence, Rohit could be tempted to play Rishabh Pant at number 5 and as the keeper.

Chakravarthy set for debut?

Varun Chakravarthy received a surprise call-up in the India ODI squad for the England series and expect England's tormentor to make his ODI debut on 6th. He will be supported by Kuldeep Yadav as his spin partner.

In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami will make his ODI comeback and Arshdeep Singh will be the second lead pacer in the playing XI.

India's probable XI for 1st ODI

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami

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