India have decided to stick with the winning combination as BCCI named an unchanged 12-man squad for the second ODI against West Indies at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
However, there are high chances that India will not go with the same playing XI which thrashed West Indies by 8 wickets in Guwahati a couple of nights ago. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav is all set to be back in the mix in place of one of the three seamers.
India played three seamers with Jadeja and Chahal being the spinning options but as it appeared it was the spinners who put the brakes on the rampaging West Indian batting line-up led by Shimron Hetmyer, who slammed 106 off 78 balls to take West Indies to 322, batting first.
All the seamers went for more than six runs per over with Shami being the most expensive of them, giving away 83 runs in his full quota.
The Visakhapatnam pitch does not promise anything different and India would want to have another spinner up their ranks to stifle the inexperienced Windies’ batting line-up. Jadeja's batting ability gives him immunity, leaving India with no choice but to slot Kuldeep in place of one of three medium pacers.
However, there is a catch. Indian captain Virat Kohli does not believe in playing three spinners in an ODI and he, in fact, wants the luxury of an extra seamer, keeping the World Cup in mind, where India would definitely play with the combination of three medium pacers and two spinners.
The batting line-up will be the same with Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu slated to bat in the middle order. Pant, who made his debut in the last ODI did not get to bat as Kohli and Rohit struck flawless hundreds to guide India to an easy victory with almost 8 overs to spare.
India's 12-man squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Syed Khaleel Ahmed.