3 top takeaways from India's ODI squad for West Indies tour

The BCCI has announced the Indian ODI squad for the upcoming tour of West Indies. Keeping the Cricket World Cup 2023 in mind, the board has decided to name a full-strength squad for this series.

India visited West Indies for an ODI series last year as well. Shikhar Dhawan captained a second-string Indian squad on that tour, and the Indian team defeated the Men in Maroon 3-0 in that series. Fans will hope for a similar outcome this year as well. On that note, here is the Indian ODI squad for the 2023 series against West Indies:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik and Mukesh Kumar.

The squad looks quite strong on paper. Here are the three major takeaways from this announcement.

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#1 Suryakumar Yadav receives another chance to prove himself in ODIs

Suryakumar Yadav is one of the best T20I batters in the world right now, but the star Indian player has failed to impress much in ODI cricket. In the previous series against Australia at home, Yadav recorded three ducks in three matches.

The selectors have still given him one more chance to prove himself in the 50-over format. It looks like the team management wants him to play ODI cricket with the same intent that he shows in T20Is.

It is pertinent to note that Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant will likely recover from their injuries soon. If Yadav fails to make an impact in the West Indies series, he could be dropped from the ODI squad.

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#2 Sanju Samson replaces KL Rahul

KL Rahul was India's wicket-keeper in the previous ODI series against Australia. However, he has been ruled out of action for a few weeks due to an injury. Sanju Samson, who played a match-winning role for India in their previous away series against West Indies, has replaced Rahul in the squad.

Like Suryakumar Yadav, this might be the last series for Samson to prove himself ahead of Cricket World Cup 2023. For the record, Samson has scored 330 runs in 11 ODI matches at an average of 66 and a strike rate of 104.76. He has recorded two half-centuries in 10 innings.

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#3 Washington Sundar and Mohammed Shami dropped?

There is no update on whether Mohammed Shami has been dropped or rested for this tour. His name is missing from the Test squad as well. Another player, who was present in the squad for the ODIs against Australia but is missing from the West Indies tour, is Washington Sundar.

The off-spin bowling all-rounder played his last ODI against New Zealand in January 2023. Sundar has picked up 16 wickets and scored 233 runs in 16 ODIs. He recently returned from an injury break in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. It will be interesting to see if he is considered for the Asia Cup and Cricket World Cup later this year.