India vs Eng ODIs: High five to watch out for

Kolkata: The much awaited India vs England ODI series is about to start tomorrow. It is an awaited series primarily because of the fact that it will be Virat Kohli’s first assignment as a full-time captain sporting the ODI colours and also because many are keen to see how the English lions fight back after being routed 4-0 in the Test series at the end of last year. In the match tomorrow, there will be some key battles between the players between both these sides. The 5 player battles to watch out for the series are-

The reason why this would be a key contest to watch because of the fact that the two were involved in some verbal spats in the recently concluded Test series. During the third test, they both shared a heated moment in the field and it would be really interesting to see whether both these cricketers could channelize that aggression into their games going into the ODI series which would be followed by the T20 series thereafter. This tussle between the new Indian skipper and the hard-hitting English all-rounder is quite reminiscent of the Sourav Ganguly vs Andrew Flintoff spat of the last decade. It would be really exciting to see as to which one of these players dominates the other in the series.

2. Ravichandran Ashwin vs Joe Root: Well, the best bowler from India against the best batsman from England. What could get better than this? While Joe Root has been dismissed for the maximum number of times while playing spin, Ravichandran Ashwin has enjoyed a lot of success with the ball off-late. Although the Indian premier spinner got the better of the English batsman for just twice in the Test series, he would be looking to dominate the Englishman more with his off-spinners and doosras. Joe Root on the other hand, would like to forget the Test series, focus on the ODI series and dominate the Indian off-spinner.

MS Dhoni- The man who left the world in complete shock as he announced his retirement from the role of the captain of the ODI and T20 sides could be seen in a more fearless avatar with the bat come Sunday, when he comes out to bat against England in the first ODI. And what can be a better picture for an ardent Dhoni fan, when he steps out of the crease and launches an off-spinners delivery, right into the stands? When the first match between England and India get underway, Moeen Ali, the English all-rounder who, had earlier troubled the Indian batsmen with his wily bowling in the 2014 Test series in England and also in the recently concluded Test series would like to continue his domination with the ball on the Indian batsmen.

It would be a treat to watch a well-motivated Moeen Ali bowling against a fearless Dhoni, who now would be able to play his shots more freely since he is free from the burden of captaincy.

There’s no specific reason as to why I picked these two players who would go against each other when their teams lock horns this Sunday.

The English captain, fresh from having a good show with the bat for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League would like to replicate that same form against the No.3 ranked ODI team, India. The English southpaw has been a part of a lot of contests against India and has done quite well in the subcontinental conditions, given the fact that he’s had a successful IPL season with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The Indian paceman Umesh Yadav too has been in good touch which he showed in the Test series where he picked wickets whenever the team needed it.

It would be a keen contest when Umesh Yadav runs up to bowl to the English ODI captain.

Again, not a genuine reason as to why I pitted these two players against each other, but Jos Butler has been in good form off-late in the limited overs’ format, especially after his season last year with the Mumbai Indians where he had a good outing with the willow.

Speaking of Bumrah, he’s been absolutely phenomenal in the last year after he made his debut against Australia in Australia. Since then, he hasn’t looked back. An unorthodox bowling action has led to many batsmen having problems picking his deliveries and he has used that element of uncertainty to good effect. One can confidently say, that he can produce toe-crushing yorkers almost at will and he has been picking a lot of wickets in the limited overs’ format.

It would be interesting to see how he bowls against his fellow team member of the Mumbai Indians, Jos Butler.