India vs England ODIs: Last chance to fine-tune Champions Trophy plans

The T20I leg of this white-ball series is over, with India blitzing England 4-1, and now the focus shifts to the ODI format with three games on February 6 (Nagpur), 9 (Cuttack) and 12 (Ahmedabad). 

This will mark only the third ODI series for India since the World Cup final on November 19, 2023. Shortly after that forgettable match, a second-string team played three ODIs in South Africa and then last summer an almost full-strength outfit lost 0-2 in Sri Lanka. India’s top four of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer have played just three ODIs since the 2023 World Cup; KL Rahul has played four; Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami have not played a single ODI; Rishabh Pant, since returning from injury, has featured in one; and India’s top ODI spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, last week played his first match in any format since October. 

On top of rustiness is the poor red-ball form of several big players in this squad. Rohit averaged 6.20 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia and since India resumed playing Test cricket in September, the skipper averages 10.93. He recently played his first Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai in nine years and made 31 runs in two innings. 

Of Kohli’s 190 runs in five Tests in Australia, 90 came in eight innings during which time he was out eight times nicking deliveries outside off stump. He too returned to the Ranji Trophy last week – after 12 years – and made six runs for Delhi. 

Gill, who as vice-captain looks set to open alongside Rohit in the ODIs, had a terrible time in Australia as well, but scored a century for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy and has always looked the most settled in the 50-over format. 

Iyer, who should hold down his spot at No 4, is coming off a good Vijay Hazare Trophy in which he scored 325 runs in five innings, inclusive of two centuries, and before that a successful Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) where he scored 345 runs at a strike-rate of 188 while captaining Mumbai to the domestic T20 title. 

Rahul and Pant are vying for one spot in the ODI 11 and neither has any recent white-ball form to show for. Hardik Pandya is, of course, the most valuable allrounder in the lineup and his form for Baroda in the SMAT and for India in the recent T20Is underlines his value. Ravindra Jadeja has retired from T20Is and has not played a white-ball game since June. Whether he slots into India’s starting 11 remains to be seen, given the presence of white-ball regulars Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. 

Kuldeep will make his ODI comeback in this series, having been sidelined since October. He had surgery for a hernia and played one Ranji Trophy match last week, in which Kuldeep bowled 31 overs. 

Given the doubt over Jasprit Bumrah’s participation in the Champions Trophy, there is plenty riding on how Shami fares in these ODIs. He made his international comeback after 14 months last week, bowling 5.3 overs across two T20Is for three wickets (each of which came in Sunday’s game in Mumbai). Arshdeep Singh is India’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is but has to date only featured in eight ODIs, and the fact that he was rested for two of the five games against England indicates that the left-arm is primed to feature in all three ODIs. 

England have played 11 ODIs since exiting the 2023 World Cup in the group stage, and in this time, they have won just four of those. This includes two away series losses to West Indies and one at home to Australia. 

Should Shami struggle in this series, the only other quick bowler India can call on is the uncapped Harshit Rana who has been named in the squad for the first and second ODIs. 

England were utterly confounded by India’s spinners in the recent five T20Is, losing 29 wickets to that type of bowling. If they thought they had seen the last of their chief tormentor from the T20Is series, Varun Chakravarthy, they were in for a jolt two days ahead of the first match when the BCCI added the spinner to India’s ODI squad. Alongside the potential of a debut for Chakravarthy, England also have to contend with Kuldeep, Axar, Jadeja and Sundar. 

What will come as a shot of confidence is the presence of Joe Root, a fine player of spin. England’s batsmen appeared intent on only hitting India’s spinners for sixes during the T20Is, with the result being plenty of catching practice to fielders in the deep.

Looking at how poorly England play ODIs these days, and assessing India’s formidable home record, expect a 3-0 whitewash for Rohit and his team despite the obvious issues they must contend with. 

India likely playing 11 (first ODI): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul/Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh 

England likely playing 11 (first ODI): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Joe Root, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Jacob Bethell, 8 Jamie Overton/Brydon Carse, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Adi Rashid, 11 Mark Wood