After Thiruvananthapuram, the India-West Indies ODI series moves to Guwahati, and while this is a dramatic shift in landscape – from the south-western tip of India to the north-east – the objectives for the two teams don’t change that much. Both teams, first of all, will want to win – India to seal the series win, West Indies to stay alive.
The next priority, for India, is about getting another step closer to figuring out their best 15 for the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa. They began this series with an interesting combination featuring three allrounders and only three specialist bowlers, and look set to continue with that set-up in Guwahati. Will Nitish Kumar Reddy continue to get the new ball? How will Naman Dhir’s offbreaks hold up for a second successive ODI? And with Axar Patel away at the Asian Games, can Ravindra Jadeja make a big push to stay in the World Cup conversation?
For West Indies, there is a World Cup Qualifier in February-March to build towards. And to that end, they will want to build on the positives from Thiruvananthapuram, and put in more rounded performances over the rest of this series. They showed great promise with the bat in that first ODI, but they’ll want to show they can do it again, and do it across all phases of an innings. And they’ll definitely want to show more wicket-taking teeth with the ball – to this end they could look at sacrificing some of their batting depth to bring in either Shamar Joseph or the left-arm wristspinner Vitel Lawes.
Form guide
India WLLWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first) West Indies LWLLL
In the spotlight
Nitish Kumar Reddy began the first ODI with a 17-run over, overpitching frequently and getting hit for four fours by Justin Greaves. This was the second over of the match, and India didn’t use him again in the first powerplay. He came back later, however, and pulled things back fairly well in his last four overs, including giving away just seven runs and taking a wicket in the final over of the innings. Given the questions around Hardik Pandya’s fitness, Reddy becomes a vital player in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup. He has added a yard of pace in recent months, and India will hope his bowling continues to grow as they try and mould him into a world-class seam-bowling allrounder across formats.
Since his debut in May 2022, Keacy Carty is the second-highest ODI run-getter for West Indies behind his captain Shai Hope, and his 1827 runs have come at an impressive average of 40.60. His strike rate of 75.12, however, is the third-worst of all batters with 1500-plus runs in this period, and his slow start in Thiruvananthapuram, where he made 13 off 31 balls, contributed to India’s fightback after Greaves and John Campbell had put on 135 at more than seven an over. Carty’s talent – as shown by twin hundreds against England and a match-winning 95 earlier this year against New Zealand – isn’t in question, but he will want to add more gears to his game to help West Indies step up to the next level as an ODI team.
Team news: Greaves out with calf injury
It seems unlikely India will abandon the three-allrounder combination of Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja and Naman Dhir after just one match, which means Mohammed Siraj remains on the bench unless India rotate out one of their frontline quicks.
Greaves, who scored a hundred in the first game, has been ruled out of the second ODI with a calf injury. In his absence, Jewel Andrew could move up the order. Sherfane Rutherford, meanwhile, is expected to rejoin the squad after missing the first ODI for personal reasons. He could slot into the middle order. The trickier question, though, is how West Indies could potentially bring in Shamar or Lawes without giving up too much of their batting strength.
West Indies (probable): 1 John Campbell, 2 Jewel Andrew, 3 Keacy Carty, 4 Shai Hope (capt & wk), 5 Amir Jangoo, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Roston Chase, 8 Matthew Forde, 9 Gudakesh Motie, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Jayden Seales
Pitch and conditions
The Barsapara Stadium has hosted two ODIs so far, and both have been high-scoring. In the first, in 2018, West Indies posted a healthy 322 only for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to score rapid hundreds to lead India to victory with 47 balls remaining. In the second, India posted a mammoth 373 against Sri Lanka and won by 67 runs.
A searing day is forecast in Guwahati, with maximum temperatures in the mid-30s (Celsius). There is a chance of thunderstorms interrupting play.
Stats and trivia
Kuldeep Yadav needs two wickets to become the ninth India bowler to 200 in men’s ODIs. Of the other eight, only Mohammed Shami has a better average and strike rate than Kuldeep’s 26.7 and 31.6.
Virat Kohli has scored centuries and won the Player-of-the-Match award in both ODIs at Barsapara Stadium so far.
Kohli got to the 15,000-run mark during the first ODI. Some distance behind, but approaching a significant milestone, is Rohit Sharma. He is 73 runs away from becoming only the seventh batter, and third Indian, to 12,000 in men’s ODIs.
India have won 11 of their last 12 ODIs against West Indies.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at Cricinfo
