India vs West Indies 1st ODI preview: Where to watch, possible XI, betting odds

With an air of invincibility, India return to the format that gave them a heartbreak after they exited the Cricket World Cup following a loss against New Zealand in the semi-final.

The Men-in-Blue take on West Indies in the first of three-match ODI series at Providence Stadium in Guyana on August 8.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan -who was out of the World Cup at the initial stage of India's campaign following an injury- will make a comeback. With Indian captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma being the other two players in top-3, India's top order looks formidable.

India vs West Indies 1st ODI preview by Gaurav Kalra 

With 17 hundreds in 130 ODIs, Dhawan will rightfully take his place at the top of the order alongside Rohit. Dhawan's inclusion would mean that KL Rahul is likely to be pushed to the number four spot. However, Rahul can't take his place in the playing XI for granted as Kohli might include Shreyas Iyer in the team. In the T20I series, Iyer was the only player to not start in any of the three matches.

Rishabh Pant will don the wicketkeeping gloves in MS Dhoni's absence. Kedar Jadhav and Pant can be shuffled between No.5 and N0.6 depending on the match requirement.

Manish Pandey could fill in for the remaining spot but he did not have an impressive outing in the T20I series and team management could be tempted to include Ravindra Jadeja and see how it pans out.

With Bhuvneshwar Kumar playing three T20 Internationals in a week across two countries, he will probably get to cool his heels with Mohammed Shami leading the attack and Navdeep Saini making his ODI debut.

The World Cup disappointment did not seem to bother Kohi's men as they overpowered the hosts 3-0 in the T20I series.

Sharma- who hit a record five tons in the World Cup- will look to continue his golden run with the bat in the 50-over format.

Kohli, who also enjoyed a great run in the mega event, will not be short on motivation despite the lack of world beaters in the opposition camp. The batting mainstay is also aware that a section of former players raised question mark around his captaincy in the limited overs format.

It pained him that one bad outing, after a dominant run, put paid to his team's hopes in the World Cup.

While the stage in the Caribbean islands is no match to the one at the World Cup, Kohli will still be too pleased with a commanding performance by his team.

Runs and wickets from the likes of young Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya have left the captain impressed, and hopeful of a bright future. Krunal was named Man of the Series for his all-round exploits in the T20s.

Thoroughly outplayed in the shortest format, West Indies will hope the return of the talismanic Chris Gayle bolsters them. Gayle during the World Cup had announced that the home series against India will be his last. So the Men-in-Maroon would want to give the Universe Boss a series win as a farewell gift.

Left-handed opener John Campbell, Roston Chase and all-rounder Keemo Paul have all been recalled to the 14-member squad for the matches.

Where to watch: The match will start at 8.00 PM IST. It will be broadcast live on Sony Sports Network. Online viewers can catch the action on the SonyLIV app.

Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana

Pitch report and conditions: Expect a hard track which will have plenty of runs to offer. Conditions are expected to remain overcast.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini

West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Chris Gayle, John Campbell, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach.

Possible XI: 

India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini

West Indies XI: Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder, Fabian Allen, Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas,

Players to watch out for

Rohit Sharma (IND)

Rohit Sharma had a great run in the World Cup smashing 5 hundreds. The Indian opener will look to continue his purple patch in ODIs against West Indies.

Chris Gayle (WI)

Chris Gayle would want to sign-off from ODIs on a high. Indian bowlers should be careful of the Universe Boss because he can damage their averages and economy.

Betting Odds

India: 1/3

West Indies: 5/2

Other bets on the match can be checked on Oddschecker.

Prediction

After mauling West Indies 3-0 in the T20I series, India will start as favourites.