The prolonged lean patch of skipper Rohit Sharma continues to be India’s Achilles heel even as the selection conundrum that Virat Kohli’s possible return poses are the things that India will be looking to address in their attempt to seal the series against England in the second ODI at Cuttack on Sunday.
India had taken a 1-0 lead after their four-wicket win at Nagpur, but Kohli getting rested due to soreness in his knee had raised concerns about his fitness ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy, starting February 19.
However, vice-captain Shubman Gill had indicated that Kohli could be back for the second match. Kohli had also travelled to Cuttack along with his teammates and he looked relaxed.
The 36-year-old star batter’s return will definitely boost the team ahead of the Champions Trophy, but that also raises a challenge in terms of selection. Shreyas Iyer, who came in for Kohli at the last minute by his own admission, made a rollicking 36-ball 59 that has made dropping him an almost unthinkable act.
Going by performance in the first ODI, it appears Kohli could walk in at the expense of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a forgettable ODI debut in Nagpur. This means Gill might rejoin Rohit at the top, with Kohli retaining the one-down position.
Meanwhile, Kohli too is in need of runs, and he will need a good outing here if he indeed makes a return. Kohli’s form has been under scrutiny in recent months, especially after his struggles in Australia, where he repeatedly nicked deliveries to the slip cordon or wicketkeeper.
His last competitive outing for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy too was a low-yielding one, managing just six before getting bowled by Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan.
Having said that, Kohli is a different beast in 50-over cricket and the iconic batter needs just 94 runs to become the third batter to reach 14,000 runs in the format after Sachin Tendulkar (18,426) and Kumar Sangakkara (14,234). Kohli, who has played 283 ODI innings, is also in line to become the fastest to the milestone ahead of Tendulkar (350 innings) and Sangakkara (378).
The Indian bowling attack looks settled with fit-again pacer Mohammed Shami gradually finding back his rhythm after returning to international cricket following a year-long injury lay-off. Having started off with a maiden, Shami slowly got into the scheme of things in Nagpur and dictated the terms in the middle overs, returning with a fine 1/38 from his eight overs.
Debutant Harshit Rana was taken apart by Phil Salt initially, and the young pacer ended up as the most expensive bowler at Nagpur, but he made crucial strikes, dismissing Ben Duckett and Harry Brook in the same over to turn the momentum in India’s favour. With fitness concerns lingering over lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Rana has an outside chance to push for his case with another fruitful outing.
On the other hand, England would be desperate to change their downright aggressive batting approach with a much more sensible one if they are to remain in contention for the series. For that, the onus will be on the English batters to tackle the Indian spinners, an area that has troubled the visitors throughout their tour of India this year.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.
England: Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Philip Salt, Jamie Smith, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood.