With the first-choice Indian team available for the ODI series against England and the kind of performance India put on in the first game of the series, it seemed as if India would play the same XI for the entire series and pick their main players for all the games.
But, after a thrashing in the second ODI at Lord’s yesterday, the spots of a couple of players are under the microscope now.
It’s very much possible that India makes these two changes in the final match of the ODI series against England –
Ishan Kishan in, Shikhar Dhawan out
Although Shikhar Dhawan remained not out in the first ODI which India won by 10 wickets, he looked very scratchy and out of form during the time he was out there. Although he played a couple of quality shots, he still looked well short of match practice and the fluency didn’t seem to come back in the second ODI either.
Dhawan is a very senior player of the squad and has been named captain for the ODI series against West Indies, but given the fact that Sunday’s game is a vital one, India might want to go with Ishan Kishan at the top of the order who has had plenty of game time under his belt recently and might be in better batting rhythm as compared to Dhawan.
Shardul Thakur in, Prasidh Krishna out
With the XI that India has played in the first two ODIs, they have looked a very strong seam attack, but their tail has been a bit longer with Mohammed Shami batting at no. 8, which is probably a couple of positions higher for his batting abilities, although he can hit the ball big.
With Shardul Thakur coming in for Prasidh Krishna for the final game of the ODI series against England, India’s batting will get strengthened slightly and Shardul will also provide them the option of a change up bowler who will bowl cutters and other variations, rather than just bowling quick.
