India vs Windies | Rishabh Pant likely to debut as India announce squad for 1st ODI

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Young Rishabh Pant is likely to be handed his ODI debut when India take on West Indies in Guwahati on Sunday as the management decides to keep KL Rahul and Manish Pandey on the bench. Following his Asia Cup heroics, Khaleel Ahmed is also in the 12-man squad and would be hoping for a chance.

BCCI are seemingly taking giant strides towards replacing MS Dhoni with Pant in the future, if their 12-man squad for the first ODI would be anything to go by. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, who is still nursing his back injury, the management has decided to go with the inexperienced 21-year-old despite having Pandey in the ranks. However, with MS Dhoni also in the squad, it would be interesting to see where Pant is coming to bat on.

Though Pant would be playing in ODIs for the first time, his hitting prowess is no stranger to anyone. He has been a household name in IPL where he has played 38 matches garnering 1248 at a strike rate of 162.71, which also includes a brilliant century.

Ambati Rayudu would be looking to continue his blistering form as BCCI are finding the right no. 4 before the 2019 World Cup. In the absence of Virat Kohli, the Hyderabad batsman managed to garner 175 runs in six matches showing his ability to control the tempo of the match. 

Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami are likely to spearhead the pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar not in the squad, although the presence of Khaleel Ahmed would indicate that the 20-year-old could be handed a chance in case India seal the 5-match ODI series early.

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