WI v IND 2019: India's predicted playing XI for the first ODI against West Indies

#2 Middle-order (Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer)

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli had a decent World Cup 2019 as he scored 443 runs in nine matches with five half-centuries. Even though he scored five consecutive half-centuries in the tournament, he failed to convert them into big scores. Besides, a failure in the semi-final ended his World Cup campaign on a bitter-note. Instead of taking rest from the limited-overs, Kohli has decided to play in all the three formats.

KL Rahul was initially picked in the World Cup 2019 squad as a back-up option for the openers. However, he was given the mantle of the problematic no.4 spot in the first few games of the tournament. Later, he returned to the top of the batting order when Dhawan was injured. With Dhawan back in the squad, Rahul will once again be batting at no.4. If Rahul continues to perform well in that position, then he can be the solution to one of India’s long-running conundrums.

Shreyas Iyer was one player who was auditioned for the no.4 slot previously. After some decent performances in the domestic circuit and IPL 2019, Iyer recently played for India A against the West Indies and scored 126 runs in three games. Iyer will look to seal his place in the playing XI with some good performances in the ODI series.