India vs West Indies – 1st ODI Match Prediction

The West Indies are embarking on a tour of India to play in a One Day International series in Ahmedabad and for many reasons, this series is a lot more important than most other bilateral series. This is because India are going to be starting life with Rohit Sharma leading them and they have also made a number of changes to the line-up. Also, the West Indies players will be looking to put in a good show so that they get bought for a good price at the IPL Auction that is just around the corner. Read on to find out our prediction of who will win the first ODI.

India Team Preview

The India cricket team was meant to be at full strength for this game, but a Covid-19 outbreak means that Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, and Shreyas Iyer are not available for selection. It might seem harsh to say, but we cannot help but feel that this will be a positive thing for India.

Sharma needs to decide whether it is Lokesh Rahul who is the answer to all of India's opening woes, or should he give the opening spot to Ishan Kishan for a while? Whatever option he chooses, India will have a new opening combination, and this will make them a little bit vulnerable. We are sure that Virat Kohli will bat in the number three position while Rishab Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Deepak Hooda will make up the rest of the middle order. Their batting line-up looks pretty strong on paper, but with a number of their players being shifted about, it is vulnerable to collapse, we think.

Five of the last eight centuries that Kohli has scored in ODI matches have been against the West Indies, so if you are thinking about doing a spot of online cricket betting and want to bet on the top-scorer for India, we recommend that you think about putting some money on Kohli.

Their bowling attack has also been changed up a bit. The likes of Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav have found a spot in the squad to try and improve India's effectiveness during the middle overs. This means that Sharma has another decision to make and this is that he will have to choose between these new spinners and Yuzvendra Chahal. When it comes to the fast bowlers, we expect to see Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar, and Shardul Thakur make the playing XI.

West Indies Team Preview

The West Indies have not had that good a time of things lately in ODIs - they lost a series at home to Ireland and now they have to travel to India to take on one of the best teams in the world. In addition to this, they have to try and win the series 3-0 if they are to have any real chance of qualifying directly for the 2023 ODI World Cup that is going to take place in India.

It is likely that Brandon King and Shai Hope will open the batting for them, while the likes of Nkrumah Bonner, Nicholas Pooran, Darren Bravo, Fabian Allen, and Keiron Pollard will make up the rest of the batting line-up. As always with a West Indian team, there is plenty of power and experience in this line-up, and many have played in India on numerous occasions, which always helps.

The likes of Jason Holder, Akeal Hossain, Odean Smith, and Romario Shepherd will also likely be in the starting XI, and all of these are more than capable of scoring runs. The West Indies really do have a batting line-up that bats deep, and one that many other cricket teams will be jealous of.

If you are going to be betting at cricket betting sites and want to put your money on something related to the West Indian batting, then we recommend that you take a look at the six-hitting market because these lads can clear the boundary ropes with complete ease.

The West Indies struggle in the bowling department, and bringing back Kemar Roach seems a bit of an odd move, but it might help to add some more teeth to the bowling attack. Shepherd is really good at the death, but the rest of his bowling is a bit suspect, while Allen and Akeal are not the type of spinners that will get the Indian batsmen in a twist.

Toss Prediction

In total, there have been 21 ODI matches played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, and 11 of these games have been won by the team batting first and 10 have been won by the team bowling first. Therefore, this suggests that the coin toss does not play as big a role here as it can at some other venues.

The average first innings score here is 242, while is stands at 212 for the second innings, which suggests that it is slightly easier to bat first on this wicket. Therefore, we think that the captain that wins the coin toss will opt to bat first in this ODI, put a score of about 300 on the board, and look to defend it.

Pitch and Conditions

The weather forecast for the day of the match is really good, and we are expecting the pitch to be a pretty good one too. The recent series against England was played at this stadium, and the ball travelled really nicely off of the surface. Thus, the fast bowlers are going to have their work cut out for them and the batsmen should be able to have a bit of fun.

Our Match Prediction

We would put our money on India to win this game, but we do think that there needs to be a bit of caution shown by anyone betting on this match. India will be fielding a few new faces and some of their players have been out of the side for a while due to injury or other reasons, while the West Indies definitely do have the ability to pull of what would be an upset.

The India bowling attack was really poor in South Africa, and they could find themselves being tested here too. When you are making a cricket match prediction, India is the team that you should back, but there are other markets that you should take a look at apart from the match winner, and this includes the number of runs scored in the match or the number of boundaries hit.

Our match prediction: