India vs England 1st ODI preview: Clash of batting firepower

Photo Credit: Reuters

India, buoyed after clinching the three-match T20 International series, take on England in the first One Day International on Thursday at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in what promises to be a mouthwatering batting contest between the two top-ranked teams in the 50 overs format. England, currently number 1 in ICC ODI rankings, have had a great run in the ODIs in the last few years and are likely to give a tough fight to Virat Kohli's team, which occupies the second spot in the ODI rankings, at home.

With the ODI World Cup scheduled in England in 2019, both teams are well aware that the series gives them not only a change to finetune their preparations but also gauge the opposition. England are coming into the ODIs after routing the once-mighty Australia 5-0 at home and also notching up a world record score of 481 in the third match at Trent Bridge.

The hosts have a devastating batting lineup in Jason Roym Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan, which can decimate any attack. The weak link is their bowling and with hitman Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina in their ranks, India have a batting card which can be equally dominating.

While pace and swing are unlikely to trouble the English batsmen too much, India spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chaha will prove to be tough opponents.

Since the ICC World Cup 2015, England have won 46 ODIs and lost 19 while India have a 39-19 win-loss record during the same period. If India manage to will all the three ODIs, then they will replace England at the top of ICC rankings in the 50-over format.

Full squads:

India: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Siddarth Kaul, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

England: Eoin Morgan (C), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (WK), Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Jake Ball, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood