New Era ushers in Indian cricket, Virat Kohli leads 'Blue Brigade' against England in ODI series opener at Pune

India shall be taking on England in the first of the three ODI's at Pune on Sunday afternoon. The match is scheduled to commence at 1:30 pm. The series shall also mark Virat Kohli's first assignment as captain of the ODI team. Kohli has taken over as the Indian ODI skipper after MS Dhoni stepped down as the ODI captain.

It is an interesting period in Indian cricket as it ushers a new era under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.

Experienced campaigner Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback into the Indian ODI squad. With seasoned opener Shikhar Dhawan making a comeback, it shall be interesting to see as to who is chosen as the best fit to open in the series. The likes of KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane shall also be in strong contention for the openers slot. The middle order looks solid and well experienced with proven performers like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. 

The Indian spin department looks potent as ever with the troika of R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja. Seamers Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah shall be sharing the new ball for India in the series.

After being handed a crushing defeat in the Test series, England shall be looking to make an impression in the ODI series. England shall be led by Eoin Morgan in the ODI series.

England has been a competitive force in ODI cricket post their impressive run in the 2015 ICC World Cup.England shall be bolstered by the inclusion of ODI specialist Alex Hales and Jason Roy, who both are dangerous openers in the limited overs format. The English side has some power hitters in Eion Morgan, Job Butler and who can win games on their own.

So in a nutshell it is expected to be a cracker of a series with both teams starting on even terms. 

India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Ajinkya Rahane/ KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 MS Dhoni (wk), 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin/ Amit Mishra, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Jos Buttler (wk), 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Liam Plunkett/Liam Dawson