How India's fortunes could have been transformed in the ODI series

Team India entered the ODI series high on confidence after their 2-1 series win against England earlier in the T20s. They started the One-dayers on a better note having won the series opener against Eoin Morgan's men at Trent Bridge by eight wickets- courtesy Kuldeep's astonishing spell of 6/25, Rohit Sharma's scintillating 137*(114) and skipper Virat Kohli's sublime 75(82). Chasing 269 for victory, India chased down the target in just 40.1 at the loss of Dhawan and Kohli's wickets.

But following the win at Nottingham was a disaster at 'the home of Cricket' Lord's. England made 322-7 in 50 overs after skipper Morgan opted to bat first on winning the toss. Star batsman Joe Root made 113(116), as David Willey (50* off 31) and Eoin Morgan (53 off 51) brought up their half-centuries. Chasing 323 was a daunting task for Team India who had no clues to the scorching Liam Plunkett spell. Plunkett finished with the figures of 4/46 while Adil Rashid and David Willey shared four wickets between them.

India managed just 236 in reply to England's total of 322 thus falling short of the target by 86 runs. The caravan moved to Headingley, Leeds for the series decider. Winning the toss England put India into bat for which the Men in Blue responded with a modest 256-8 in 50 overs. In reply, the hosts chased down the target of 257 in 44.3 overs at the loss of just two wickets- courtesy Joe Root's 100*(120) and Eoin Morgan's 88*(108).

Thus England won the series 2-1 and handed Virat Kohli his first bilateral ODI series defeat as a captain. Several players failed to perform well for the Men in Blue in the three-match series. Let us now look at two players from the T20 series squad who could have helped India's cause in the ODIs.

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Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya was in the T20 squad but he did not get an opportunity during the three-match series played at Old Trafford, Cardiff and Bristol. Unfortunately, though the Mumbai Indians all-rounder deserved an opportunity in the 50-over format he was not in the squad for the three-match ODI series which the hosts won 2-1. The 2018 IPL star KL Rahul did not have a good run with the bat this series.

In the first ODI, he made 9*(18) as he barely got an opportunity to bat. In the second ODI at Lord's while chasing a massive score 323 he got out for a duck off Liam Plunkett's delivery. Owing to his failure, he was dropped and Dinesh Karthik was brought in for the third ODI which again failed to produce the desired result for India. To add to India's woes, Suresh Raina too failed with the bat in the ODIs as he managed the scores of 46 and 1.

Raina bowled occasionally and was not effective with the ball as well. Instead, India could have included Krunal Pandya in the ODI squad as he would have contributed with the bat in the lower-middle order and bowled some useful spells and restricted the English in the middle overs. Krunal was instrumental both with the bat and ball during India A's tri-series win in England prior to the T20 series.

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Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar played just one match for Team India in the T20 series (third game) in which he finished with the figures of 1/43. But Chahar was impressive during India A's tri-series matches in England prior to the T20 series. Chahar was the highest wicket taker of that series with 16 scalps. He was instrumental in India A's tri-series win (India A defeated England A by five wickets in the finals).

His pace and swing was unplayable for the batsmen of other teams. He almost single-handedly led the Indian pace attack in that series. He could have included in the ODI series instead of Siddarth Kaul who was from impressive in Bhuvneshwar Kumar's absence.