England series: 50-over format offers Virat, Rohit best chance to reboot

There is no dearth of context to India’s upcoming three-match ODI series against England, starting with the one in Nagpur on Thursday. It’s their only tune-up in this format since August 2024 before the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai later this month, with a number of unanswered questions for the team management.

The biggest of the posers is whether the Big Two of captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli — back in the fray after a break during the T20I series — can get back among the runs after their disappointing runs in two back-to-back Test series. The 50-over format on surfaces like Nagpur, Cuttack or Ahmedabad (the three venues for this series) offers them the best platform to get back in their strides, though they must fight their inner demons first.

There has been no end to speculation about their careers in international cricket ever since the Australia series, with a section of the media seeing the Champions Trophy as a sort of curtain call for Rohit, while Virat also has to redeem his reputation to be in the frame for the next 50-over World Cup in 2027. The latter is barely 94 runs short of becoming only the third batter in history to score 14,000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara, and let’s also remember that he was Player of the Tournament in the 2023 World Cup at home, with a tally of 765 runs.

The skipper was also in awesome form in that World Cup, instrumental in giving the Men in Blue some blazing starts as they maintained an all-win record until the final. The last ODI series in Sri Lanka, which saw India losing to the hosts after 27 years, also saw the two yield modest returns, while their jousts in the Ranji Trophy have been forgettable, though they will be keen to seize the moment again.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir promised some ‘heavy metal’ cricket in the challenges ahead alright, though one feels both the white-ball giants should be ready to play the situation against the quality pace attack of England, rather than a pre-meditated approach.

The Hitman will be having new vice-captain Shubman Gill for company at the top of the order, and much is expected of the latter as a transitional phase is surely round the corner in Indian cricket. Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are likely to occupy the number three and four slots, while there could be a question mark over the number five position, with K.L. Rahul and Rishabh Pant battling it out for the keeper-batter’s position.

Waiting on Bumrah

The return of Hardik Pandya seals the number six spot as he provided the right balance to the team during the 2023 campaign until a freak injury laid him low. Having the experienced allrounder as a back-up seamer can be crucial, as both the team's leading pace bowlers are coming out of injury. The lack of clarity on Jasprit Bumrah, whose name has been withdrawn from the revised ODI squad against England, suggests that the team management could be in a race against time to get their pace warhead match-fit for the ICC showpiece.

Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, was fielded in two of the five T20Is and did not show any signs of discomfort. However, it remains to be seen how he can maintain the intensity in sharing the workload with Arshdeep Singh in three ODIs over the next week.

The spin department, meanwhile, offers a problem of plenty with the foursome of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav in the mix. The Chinaman bowler, coming out of a sports hernia injury, could be the X-factor, but the selectors have dovetailed Varun Chakravarthy into the ODI squad in view of his 14-wicket haul and the impact he created in the last T20I series.

Catch the match

India vs England

First ODI at Nagpur, Thursday, 6 February

Start: 1.30 pm IST