India Take On West Indies, Look To Get Back To Winning Ways In Historic 1000th ODI

Rohit Sharma's presence as the new leader, with a fresh template to arrest the familiar 'middle-order muddle', is exactly what the Indian team needs while ushering in a new era, which will begin with the ODI series against the West Indies, beginning in Ahmedabad on Sunday. After a rude reality check against a weak South African side in the away series, India are now back in familiar settings with a new ODI captain in Rohit, who will team up with illustrious Rahul Dravid and strive to get India back to winning ways.

The series-opener is the historic 1000th ODI for India, who would like to begin their preparations for the 2023 World Cup after failing to win the coveted trophy in 2015 and 2019, and the team will indeed look at a paradigm shift in strategy.

The 'Rohit-Dravid' duo over the course of the next few months will underline the 'Men in Blue's' philosophy in the 50-over format after it became clear that some rejigging is needed as a part of course correction.

Thus, the series beginning Sunday would be the perfect platform to focus on setting their struggling middle-order right.

Firstly, skipper Rohit, one of the finest white-ball exponents, will have to lead from the front.

With KL Rahul unavailable in the first game, and other specialist openers Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad both testing COVID-19 positive, it will be Ishan Kishan who would be opening the batting with the skipper.

"Ishan Kishan is the only option we have and he will open with me," Rohit said on the eve of the series-opener.

"Mayank (Agarwal) was added to the squad and he is still in isolation. He came (joined) late and we have some rules in place. If someone is travelling, we have to put them in (mandatory 3-day) quarantine. He has still not