<
>

India vs England, 1st ODI, Fantasy Pick, team predictions

Mar 23: India vs England, 1st ODI, Pune

Pro Tip: Virat Kohli has struggled against Adil Rashid in the recent T20I series, scoring at 71.87 and being dismissed twice. So Kohli doesn't get top billing for this game.

Our XI: Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Adil Rashid.

Substitutes: Shreyas Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Eoin Morgan, Sam Curran

Player availability: All players in the squad are likely to be available. We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss.

Captain: Rohit Sharma
Sharma has been in top form ever since the Test leg of the tour started. Since the 2019 ODI World Cup, he has scored 1105 runs in 17 innings at an average of 69.06 and a strike rate of 96.67, with seven centuries. He is the highest six-hitter in ODIs for India with 244 of them in 224 games.

Vice-captain: Suryakumar Yadav
Since 2018 in List A cricket, he has scored 1572 runs in 38 innings at an average of 49.12 and a strike rate of 122.23. In the last two T20I games against England, his scores were 57 (31) and 32 (17)

Hot Picks
Ben Stokes: The allrounder has been in sublime touch in the ODI format recently. In his last five innings, he hit 345 runs with four 50-plus scores and a strike rate of 90.07. In the three ODIs he has played in India, he has also picked up five wickets.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Kumar has come back into the international circuit with a bang after recovering from his injury problems. He picked up four wickets in the five T20Is he played and was also very economical, conceding at 6.38. Since 2019, he has been the Indian bowler with the best average - 23.75, while picking up 33 wickets in 19 games.

Hardik Pandya: In the recent ODI series against Australia, Pandya was the leading run-scorer for India with 210 in three games at a strike rate of 114.75. He proved his bowling fitness and ability in the T20I series against England, where he was one the best on show for India. In the last 15 ODIs, he has picked up 15 wickets, which makes him a compelling pick.

Differential Picks
Adil Rashid: Although Rashid was a bit up and down in the T20I series, he has been a star in ODIs for a long time - since 2017, he has 113 wickets in 58 games at an average of 18.01. He troubled Kohli the most in the T20I series, conceding just 23 runs from 32 deliveries and getting him out twice.

Jonny Bairstow: Now that he is likely to bat at his favorite position (opening), expect fireworks from Bairstow. Since 2019, he has been the top run-getter for England in this format with 1190 at a strike rate of 102.32. His ODI batting average of 47.16 is the best among all English batters in the current squad too.

Alternate Scenarios

  • Rishabh Pant can be replaced by Krunal Pandya or Yuzvendra Chahal

  • Eoin Morgan can replace Jason Roy

  • Jonny Bairstow and Hardik Pandya are the alternate choices for captaincy