West Indies and India will face each other today in the first One Day International at Ahmedabad in what Kieron Pollard describes as a level playing field.
The West Indies leader made this remark during the pre-match conference yesterday where he said both teams are starting from zero in light of India’s 0-4 loss at the hands of South Africa and West Indies’ series win over England prior to this tour.
India is also depleted with several key players rested and COVID-19 taking its toll in the hosts’ camp.
“We start zero…so we are on a level playing field, these are some of the things we can’t control, they resting whoever they want to rest, again the pandemic has forced different things to happen at different times,” he said.
He said that his team should be more focused on improving what was established in their last series.
“So I think for us, it is more focusing on achieving what we want to as a team and not who is favourites and who needs to do what, again…we need to focus on what we need to do and continue to improve from a batting perspective in our areas, continue to improve from a bowling perspective and finishing off games and keeping the right sort of attitude and mentality in the field as a unit,” said Pollard.
The matches however served as good preparation as Pollard revealed only one practice session was afforded for the entire team to train which happened yesterday.
All eyes will be on Pollard’s unit that will be keen to build on their success. Chief among those are fast bowling all-rounders, Romario Shepherd and Odean Smith, both of whom could be on the radar for some Indian Premier League teams. The seam duo could gain a lot from the experience of Jason Holder and the returning Kemar Roach.
Also in the reckoning is spinner, Akeal Hosein, who has been constantly improving since bursting onto the scene. In spin-friendly conditions he is expected to be a handful. Coupled with left-arm spinning all-rounder Fabian Allen and leggie, Hayden Walsh, West Indies will have a variety to choose from
Their batting, despite the absence of Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis have given a fair account of itself in the last series but the form of Nicholas Pooran and Darren Bravo will be cause for concern. It would be interesting to see who opens the batting with Shai Hope as Brandon King did fairly well recently but could find himself in a toss up for the position with Nkrumah Bonner.
India, despite being the hosts, would not be too familiar with the conditions given it has been seven years since an ODI match was played at the venue but nevertheless would be gunning for success especially since this will be their 1000th ODI match, making them the first team to play that many.
It would not be as simple though as four of their initial players have tested positive for COVID-19 and KL Rahul is out due to family commitments.
This, however, paves the way for Mayank Agarwal, Ishan Kishan and Shahrukh Khan to be given the opportunity to prove themselves on the big stage. India will also feel confident with the return of Rohit Sharma who will captain the side.
Sharma confirmed that Kishan will open the batting alongside him while Agarwal is still in isolation.
“With COVID it is uncertain with what is going to happen. At the moment, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, and Shikhar Dhawan are in isolation. They are doing well. In the first ODI, Ishan Kishan would open with me, he is the only option as Mayank was added to the squad, he is in isolation as he came a bit late into the squad. He has not finished his quarantine so Ishan will open the innings unless there is an injury,” said Rohit.
He indicated that the players know what is expected of them and he would not be changing anything drastically from the template left by former captain, Virat Kholi.
With Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel not part of the team or not available, it could mean Deepak Hooda will make his debut for the hosts.
The first ball bowls off at 04.00 hours locally.
