India announced a strong 18-man ODI squad for the three matches against England, with the squad along expected lines, but a few choices and decisions make for interesting talking points.

Krunal Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Prasidh Krishna are the new additions to the ODI team with the likes of Sanju Samson, Mayank Agarwal, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah (on leave), Ravindra Jadeja (yet to regain full fitness) and Mohammed Shami (yet to regain full fitness) missing from the ODI team that toured Australia.

Here are a few takeaways from the squad announced.

TEAM – Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, W Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur.

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 19, 2021

Should India have taken the chance to rest and experiment?

Every bilateral ODI series is now meant to have context with the introduction of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League last year. However, that does not hold true for India, who are the hosts of the next ODI World Cup, and therefore automatically qualify for the event. Most of India’s main all-format players – the likes of skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill – have been in bio-bubbles for a long time now with only a short gap between the Australia tour and the England Test series. With the IPL coming up, they will further be in a bubble for the next two months. With the next ODI World Cup two years away, there’s little advantage in having the established players, who are likely fatigued, playing this bilateral series. No wonder Ravi Shastri went on a bubble-mumbling spree after the Test series win. This was a missed chance to play a second-string side and to test their options.

Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal ignored

This carries forward from the earlier point. With most of the established top-order options in the squad, there was no room for Prithvi Shaw, who broke the record for the most runs in one season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and Devdutt Padikkal, one of the breakout stars of the 2020 IPL. Despite Shaw’s concerns in Australia in red-ball cricket, his white-ball numbers – 827 runs at an average of 165.4 with three hundreds and a double century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 season – have been top-notch and it’s hard to ignore the fact that the selectors missed a chance to give the 21-year-old some confidence after he was unceremoniously dropped from the longest format. Padikkal, meanwhile, finished right behind Shaw and has been in red-hot form in every series he has played so far.

India searching for batting depth

Ravindra Jadeja’s return to the limited-overs setup, and subsequently establishing himself in the side, came on the back of a massive change in his batting contributions. The new squad named, even without Jadeja, gives the inkling that India prefer their all-rounders to be impactful with the bat too. Axar Patel, who had a brilliant Test series, was benched after the first T20I and finds himself unwanted in the ODI mix. Instead, Krunal Pandya, who notably chugged down 388 runs with four fifty-plus scores (two centuries in them) in five innings for Baroda in the Vijay Hazare Trophy seasons gets picked despite his ordinary bowling returns. Washington Sundar, who has by now shown his batting capabilities multiple times, is also in the mix.

Prasidh Krishna fast-tracked and the Navdeep Saini question

Virat Kohli has been forthright in his praise for Prasidh Krishna a few times now, and it was no surprise to see the Kolkata Knight Riders quick win a call-up to the ODI squad after a reasonably good Vijay Hazare Trophy. An ability to bowl at over 140kmph consistently makes Prasidh an exciting addition, but it’s worth noting he comes into the side in place of Navdeep Saini, who was similarly hailed for his pace a year or so ago. Saini’s listless form perhaps means that he has fallen down the pecking order. With the T20 World Cup coming up, Prasidh now has a chance to show he can be that left-field pick if he has a good ODI series followed by a strong IPL.

Middle-order spots to be decided

There are three open slots in the middle-order, with Virat Kohli nailed on at No.3 and a spinning all-rounder preferred for the No.7 position. There are at least five players tussling it out for these spots with one of them reserved for a wicketkeeper. Suryakumar Yadav’s stellar maiden innings in T20I cricket means Shreyas Iyer is no longer a certainty at No.4. The same goes for KL Rahul, who is in a rough patch, and is pushed by an in-form Pant for the same position. India have interesting choices to make, but if the T20Is are any indication, India aren’t too averse to experimenting.

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