After over a month’s riveting and fierce battle between two of the topmost heavy cricketing sides, England’s tour of India 2021 has finally boiled down to its business end. With the longest format of the white ball cricket- ODI’s on the cards, both the teams will look to put a lid to the series on a high with a series win. But with what we have witnessed in the last month or so, ostensibly neither of the teams will concede the ODI series as a gift to the other. The think tanks of both teams will be at work by now, trying to fathom the best possible combination that could do the job for the team.
It was India who sealed both the Test as well as the T20I series but only at the expense of hard drained sweat. India first faced an embarrassing loss to the Englishmen in the first test but completely outfoxed the England team in the remaining series rather miraculously. But vying with the no.1 T20 team, the series was going to be an enthralling and promising one. Both the teams moved ahead matching with each other’s shoulders and it was only in the 5th and the final game that India held the nerves and emerged victoriously.
But to England’s credit, they vindicated upon why they are one of the most dangerous teams in the shorter format of the game. And once again, when they will take the field in the 3-match ODI series against India in Pune, they will avenge the stain inflicted by the Indians on their dominance in the shorter format of the game. But the mighty Indians riding high on confidence will try to seek answers to all the potential questions of English blokes in the ODI Series with the best in the business.
Check out India’s predicted XI for the ODI series against England:
1. Rohit Sharma
One of the modern greats in white-ball cricket, Rohit Sharma has stamped his authority as an opener on the Indian side. Even his presence at the top-order gives a chill down the spine of the bowlers when he is on the song. He has been a part of India’s mainstream lineup. His dominance at the world stage not only makes him a formidable batsman but also one of those batsmen who will go down in the books of history as one of the most destructive and explosive batsmen.
Rohit’s stats speak for themselves. He is the only cricketer in the world at present who has scored 3 double hundred centuries in ODI cricket. While opening, he has amassed 7148 runs at a hefty average of 58.11. His knock of 264 runs against Sri Lanka still remains good and unbeaten.
The 33-year-old cricketer is also just 1 century away from becoming 3rd joint-most centuries in ODI cricket. He has scored 29 tons in 224 innings and one more would see him besides Ponting who scored 30 hundred in 375 ODIs. Undoubtedly, Rohit must be eyeing to achieving this feat in the upcoming ODI series against England.
