India vs West Indies: India begin road to 2023 World Cup under Rohit Sharma in their 1000th ODI

India vs West Indies, 1st ODI: Rohit Sharma returns to lead India in their historic 1000th ODI as the Asian giants are looking to put behind the South African disappointment and start afresh in their road next year's World Cup.

India will begin their journey on the road to the 2023 World Cup, which will be played at home next year, in their landmark 1000tth ODI when they meet the West Indies in the first of a 3-match series in Ahmedabad. All eyes will be on Rohit Sharma as he returns to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury. He will be leading India as their full-time ODI captain for the first time since he was handed the responsibility in December last year.

Rohit will reunite with head coach Rahul Dravid with whom he worked during their T20I series win over New Zealand last year. Skipper Rohit and the celebrated head coach need to get to work straight away as India will be out to prove that the 0-3 drubbing in South Africa last month was just an aberration.

India were haunted by their familiar middle-order woes in their ODI series defeat in South Africa. Barring Rishabh Pant's 85, India's middle-order did not manage to get big contributions from the middle-order. While Virat Kohli hit two fifties, he was not able to pish on for a big score, the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer failed in the lower middle-order.

KL Rahul is expected to be back in the middle-order but he will not be available for the 2nd game. India will not have Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer as they all tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week upon their arrival in Ahmedabad.

The absence of Shreyas gives Suryakumar Yadav an opportunity to prove his mettle in the middle-order. With Virat Kohli batting at No. 3 and doing the job of the accumulator, India will be more than happy if Suryakumar, who is known to play at a brisk pace, finds his own in the middle-order.

Virat Kohli, meanwhile, will be hoping to end his long wait for an international hundred. India needs their former skipper to get those big scores consistently once again as the middle-order needs an in-form Kohli. The former captain was seen having chats with Rahul Dravid at the nets in the lead up to the ODI series.

India added Ishan Kishan, Shahrukh Khan and Mayank Agarwal to the ODI squad after the positive Covid-19 cases but captain Rohit confirmed that the Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper will open with him in the first ODI. The young wicketkeeper, who hit a fifty on his ODI debut, will be looking to make the most of the opportunity that will come his way.