India v West Indies: ODI Squad – SWOT Analysis

Team India is yet to register a win in 2022. They had lost a Test and an ODI series to South Africa.

India is preparing for another ODI series against West Indies starting on February 6th. Selectors have announced an 18 member squad for the series.

Strengths

Rohit Sharma returning to the side as captain will boost the morale of the team which lost the series to South Africa 3-0.

It remains to see who will partner Rohit Sharma at the top. Shikhar Dhawan has shown a glimpse of form in the South Africa series. Ruturaj has been consistent in the domestic season and would be eyeing an opportunity.

We may have to wait till match day to see if Ruturaj gets a chance as an opener or Shikhar continues in the spot. Irrespective of that, India will be in a great position with all their openers in good form.

Middle-order will have more strength if KL Rahul moves to four or five. Shreyas Iyer didn’t have a great series in South Africa. But, they are players of high quality and India will pin their hope on them to have better performance at home.

Weakness

Middle-order batting has been the team’s concern for some time now. They have failed in South Africa which contributed to the series whitewash. The failure of Shreyas Iyer and the inconsistency of Rishabh Pant had an impact on the series. The debutant Venkatesh Iyer couldn’t contribute as much as the team expected from him.

The squad against West Indies provides better options in the middle order. KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, and Deepak Hooda may resolve India’s weakness. All of them along with Iyer and Pant provide more options at 4-6 batting slots.

Opportunity

The series presents an opportunity to Ruturaj as an opener. Kuldeep Yadav returns to the squad. It will be an opportunity for him to showcase his skills once again in a time when India struggled to take wickets in the middle overs.

Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan will hope to make a debut in the series.

Fans would be expecting a century from Virat Kohli and the return of Rohit Sharma at the top with some exciting knocks.

Threat

Indian bowlers didn’t have great success picking up many wickets during the power play overs in the recent past. This has also helped opponents to score quick runs and set up a foundation for big scores. West Indies must be looking forward to capitalizing on that and putting up a solid partnership at the top. If India’s opening bowlers don’t get a breakthrough early in the innings will cause the team a lot of trouble.

Spinners also failed to pick up wickets in the middle overs in South Africa. Chahal and Ashwin didn’t have a decent outing in South Africa that let the opponents build a partnership. It will be a concern for the team, if Chahal, Kuldeep, Axar Patel, Sundar, or Bishnoi doesn’t provide breakthroughs.