India vs West Indies: Positive and negatives from the first two ODI's

India will be worried about its bench strength of pace bowlers

This India-West Indies series has been a high scoring one. Each innings has crossed 300 runs mark in the two matches played so far. Further, five centuries have been made in these two matches, two by Virat Kohli and one each by Rohit Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope. The Windies have surprised their opponent by its firepower batting. Therefore, India has called back their main bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and has dropped Mohammed Shami.

At present, India is leading the series 1-0, as second ODI ended in a tie. However, there are some positives and negatives for both the teams.

WINDIES:

Positives:

Shai Hope scored an impressive unbeaten century in the second ODI which ended in a tie

The reason the second match ended in a tie was due to their batting. They are capable of scoring near to 350 runs if they get a solid start and find some runs from the bat of Marlon Samuels. But, the challenges will now increase with the return of Bumrah and Kumar, where the mentality and technicality of the batsmen will be tested.

Negatives:

Marlon Samuels has struggled against quality spin bowling

The batsmen have found it difficult to read the googlies of Kuldeep Yadav, especially Samuels, who has struggled against the Indian spinners. Another issue for Windies is their bowling, India chased the target of 323 runs easily in the first ODI.

INDIA:

Positives:

Rohit Sharma started from where he ended in Dubai in the Asia Cup. He scored unbeaten 152 runs in 117 balls in the first ODI in Guwahati. Moreover, Kohli has scored two centuries and Ambati Rayudu at four also batted well. He is virtually ending the number four batsman worry for India and not letting his captain down who has shown confidence in him.

Negatives:

While Indian pacers like Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami need to improve more, KL Rahul could also get a look in after a less than impressive start to the series by Shikhar Dhawan

The main concern for India currently is the bench strength of their pace bowling department. Good start by the Windies batsmen in the first powerplay and then scoring above 300 runs has forced India to bring back Bumrah and Kumar. The other concern is the form of Shikhar Dhawan. There will be pressure on him to score runs as KL Rahul is waiting for his turn. If Dhawan does not perform well in the 3rd ODI, then Rahul may get his chance to play.