India vs West Indies, 1st ODI: India look for 'fresh ODI template' as 1000th ODI marks start of Rohit-Dravid era

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, here 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 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 is in all likelihood that Mayank Agarwal, who was added to the squad, would open with Rohit. However whether Agarwal will be straight be thrown into a match without training session due to quarantine is another question, specially when Ishan Kishan is also in the mix. Rohit on his day can take any attack to cleaners and the West Indies', rather inexperienced one, would be no exception and ditto for Mayank.

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