After registering a handsome four-wicket victory in the first match, India are all set to face England in the second ODI on Sunday in Cuttack. The opening match of three-match series was a dominant show from the hosts as they outplayed England in all the departments. Opting to bat first, England got bundled out for 248 after debutant pacer Harshit Rana and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scalped three wickets each. Later, India chased down the target in 38.4 overs with Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel scoring half-centuries.
As the action now moves from Nagpur to Cuttack, all the focus is on India’s Playing XI. In the first match, Rohit Sharma and co faced a big blow as their star batter Virat Kohli had to sit out due to a swollen knee. However, on the eve of the second ODI, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak revealed that Kohli is fit for the match.
Kotak may have remained tight-lipped about whom Kohli would replace.
However, all signs pointed toward Shreyas Iyer potentially missing out despite his match-winning 36-ball 59 in India’s four-wicket victory in Nagpur.
Iyer was notably absent from the optional practice session, along with several key first-choice players, including Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, and Harshit Rana.
With the Gautam Gambhir-led think tank favoring a left-right opening combination, debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal is likely to retain his place at the top alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, pushing Kohli to No. 4.
While Kohli looked in sublime touch, Rohit Sharma had a rough outing at the nets, getting cleaned up twice by local OCA net bowlers — hardly an encouraging sight for the Indian skipper.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, who is not India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs, was also seen batting for an extended period, much to the crowd’s delight.
Apart from this, India’s bowling attack looks settled with fit-again pacer Mohammed Shami gradually settling in following his international comeback.
Having started off with a maiden, Shami slowly got into the scheme of things in Nagpur and dictated the terms in the middle overs, returning with a fine 1/38 from his eight overs.
Debutant Harshit Rana was taken apart by Phil Salt initially, and the young pacer ended up as the most expensive bowler at Nagpur, but he made crucial strikes, dismissing Ben Duckett and Harry Brook in the same over to turn the momentum in India’s favour.
India’s Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
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