The Indian team will be looking for another swift result when they take on West Indies in the second ODI match at Bridgetown's Kensington Oval on Saturday, July 29. Rohit Sharma-led side secured an easy five-wicket win in the first match to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, their first preparation for the ICC World Cup 2023 at home.
Indian management made some difficult calls during team selection for the first ODI with the likes of Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ruturaj Gaikwad failing to make the playing eleven. But fans were further surprised to see Sanju Samson's name missing from the team as Ishan Kishan donned the wicketkeeping gloves and also opened an innings ahead of captain Rohit Sharma.
It will be interesting to see if Samson makes the team for the second game and if he does then who will sit out. Ishan scored fifty and is likely to keep the wickets but Suryakumar's struggles in ODIs continued as he scored only 19 runs. Surykumar's ODI average has dipped to 23.78 despite playing considerable 24 matches but he is likely to get more chances in the absence of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul.
So, Samson might warm the bench again on Saturday but could feature in the last game along with the players who will miss the team for the second consecutive game.
In bowling, Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja started ahead of Axar and Chahal and both were impressive with combined seven wickets. Both will keep their place in the team but the management might be tempted to use an extra spinner at Kensington Oval after seeing a helpful turn during the opening game.
Chahal will feel disappointed to warm the bench but Kuldeep's four for six spell in the first game will not do any favors for the former. Axar is likely to come in place for Umran Malik, who was the only blower without a wicket in the first game. Umran is part of India's T20I squad as well and the management will be looking to keep him afresh for the shortest format.
India's ODI squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad
India's Probable XI for 2nd ODI against West Indies: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar
