Nottingham: Fresh from their Twenty20 International (T20I) series win, an upbeat India will be looking to maintain the momentum when they take on England in the first game of the three-match One Day International (ODI) series at Trent Bridge here on Thursday.
The Virat Kohli-led side won the recently concluded T20I series 2-1 and the Indian team management will be hoping the team can keep up the rich vein of form.
With the ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in England next year, the three-match series will also give Kohli and his teammates a fair idea of the playing conditions they can expect for the showpiece.
The men in blue boast a batting line-up that runs deep with most of their batsmen in good touch. Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul have each slammed a ton in the T20I series while Kohli narrowly missed half-centuries on a couple of occasions.
Suresh Raina, who replaced an unfit Ambati Rayudu, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will once again provide depth to the batting order while all-rounder Hardik Pandya too has the ability to take any bowling attack by surprise.
In the bowling department, wristspinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will once again be the key. Kuldeep has claimed 20 wickets in his last eight ODIs while Chahal has scalped 24 wickets in his last ten outings.
Apart from the duo, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will share the new ball.
On the other hand, hosts England will be keen to leave the T20I series defeat behind them and will take some motivation from the ODI series against Australia, where the Eoin Morgan-led side had crushed the visitors 6-0.
It was the same ground where England scripted an ODI world record by posting 481/6 against Australia recently.
Like India, the hosts’ batting line-up also runs deep with the likes of Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow, Morgan and Ben Stokes all capable of turning on the heat.
With the ball, spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali will be looking to make inroads into the visitors’ batting line-up.
The pace attack will feature Liam Plunkett, Stokes, David Willey and Mark Wood, depending on who all feature in the playing XI on Thursday.
