West Indies vs India 2019, 1st ODI: India's predicted playing XI and key players

India will lock horns with West Indies in what would be the team's first ODI post the World Cup semi-final heart-break against New Zealand. As Virat Kohli has said time and again, the team will have to move on from the setback and rebuild a strong team once again.

India will have a good chance to do that in the Caribbean, even though they will be missing MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. It will be interesting to see which of the fringe players get the first shot to cement their place in the ODI side.

Here is India's predicted playing XI for the first ODI.

Openers

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan

Rohit Sharma has carried his strong form from the World Cup to West Indies; he has looked in good nick in the T20s. He will be joined by Shikhar Dhawan, who will want to get among the runs in ODIs.

Middle order

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer

Virat Kohli

Dhawan's comeback means a demotion for KL Rahul to the middle order. Rahul is all set to bat at number 4, with Virat Kohli at number 3.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer is likely to be preferred ahead of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav.

Wicketkeeper, all-rounder

Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja

Rishabh Pant will take a lot of confidence from his knock in the final T20, but will want to work on his consistency in the ODIs. Ravindra Jadeja will relish being the only all-rounder in the squad.

Bowlers

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini

Mohammed Shami is set to return in the ODIs, adding more teeth to India's bowling. Navdeep Saini is likely to make his ODI debut by virtue of his impressive show in the T20s.

Only one of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Chahal can make it to the XI, and the former might be the one.

Rishabh Pant

Key players

With the kind of form Rohit Sharma has been in the last couple of months, we can expect a run-fest from him in the ODI series. The Indian vice-captain is in the form of his life and will look to score as many runs as he can.

The stage is set for Rishabh Pant to make it big in ODIs. Kohli has put his weight behind the youngster, and now it's on him to justify the faith shown by the skipper and the selectors.

India's predicted playing XI

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal

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