Team India will be under some pressure when they will enter the field in a must-win encounter against a confident West Indies. With series on the line, India will look to come at Windies with full force. India were steamrolled by West Indies in the first ODI thanks to Shimron Hetmyer’s and Shai Hope’s batting brilliance and some ordinary bowling by the Men in Blue. India have now lost four ODI on the trot at home and it will be interesting to see how they will bounce back.
There were a number of concerns which India need to reflect on after the defeat in the first ODI.
We look at some tactical changes that India could make to take on a pumped West Indies.
- Reflect on White-ball bowling issues
The Indian bowling has been under the pump this season in the shorter formats. The bowling unit failed to fire in Chennai as the Kieron Pollard-led team comfortably chased down the target of 288 with 13 deliveries to spare.
On a spin friendly track, India's spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja failed to take a single wicket as Hope and Hetmyer ran havoc in Chennai. Youngster Shivam Dube was expensive against the Caribbean Giants and didn’t complete his full quota of overs.
Virat Kohli might opt to play a fifth specialist bowler on a batting-friendly track in Vizag. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will be in contention to come into the playing XI.
- Address fielding woes
There is no doubt that the fielding needs to improve leaps and bounds. Stretching back to Bangladesh series, India's fielding performance has declined shockingly. India’s defeat in the first ODI could be attributed to the fielding by Kohli’s men.
India have been a brilliant fielding side in the last few years but they have just been fielding poorly for a while now in this format.
Indian players will look to improve their fielding and find their groove in the second ODI.
- Strong Start
In the first ODI, openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul failed to provide a good start. Skipper Virat Kohli too got out cheaply. Although Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer steadied the innings with a big partnership, the rather slow start in the first 10 overs came back to hurt India.
The top 3 will be itching to give India a solid start and lay a good platform for the rest of the batting order in the must-win game.
