Shikhar Dhawan to lead India in the ODI series vs West Indies

Team India is surfing through the stringent shores of back-to-back bilateral affairs as their English tour will be succeeded by a flight to the Caribbean islands where they will be a part of three ODIs followed by 5 T20Is.

The BCCI announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series to be led by Shikhar Dhawan in the absence of senior players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami.

This will be Dhawan’s second captaincy rodeo after the southpaw led India against Sri Lanka in the latter’s backyard with an emphatic triumph in the ODIs but a rare failure in the T20Is after half of the team was down with COVID.

Shubman Gill has been reintroduced to the ODI squad for the first time after the 2020 Australian tour while Sanju Samson will continue his national stint after a decent showing against Ireland in the two T20Is. Samson and Ishan Kishan will be the two available wicket-keepers in the Indian squad.

Arshdeep Singh will continue to be a part of the Indian squad to bolster the bowling department that also features the likes of Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jadeja and Axar Patel. Avesh Khan would be making a return to the ODI squad after being left out for the English tour while Deepak Hooda has also been picked for the upcoming series.

Ravindra Jadeja has been announced as the vice-captain, given the expertise that India’s finest all-rounder at the moment brings to the platter. With almost all the senior players out of the equation, this team will have an uphill task at their hands as the hosts will be preparing for a classic 50-over challenge over the span of three games.

India squad for the 3 ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-capt), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.