First ODI against West Indies today

Pti, Providence

With an air of invincibility, India return to the format that gave them a heartbreak in the not-too-distant past, facing West Indies in the first of three-match ODI series here on Thursday.

Shikhar Dhawan makes a comeback in the format where he has been India’s third best player after skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma.

With 17 hundreds in 130 ODIs, Dhawan will rightfully take his place at the top of the order alongside Rohit and like the initial matches of the World Cup, KL Rahul is likely to go back to being the number four batsman.

With Kedar Jadhav expected to come in at No 5 or 6 depending on how Rishabh Pant is used as a floater, it will be a toss up between Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer for the remaining middle-order slots.

Both are players with a certain amount of flair but Pandey couldn’t exactly seal it in the T20 Internationals and it’s about time that the team management would think of giving Iyer a go and see how it pans out.