Why are Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard not playing today's 2nd India vs West Indies ODI?

Ishan Kishan (L) and Kieron Pollard won't feature in the second India vs West Indies ODI.

Both India and West Indies have made one change each to their team for the second ODI in Ahmedabad. While the visitors will miss the services of their skipper Kieron Pollard, the Men in Blue have dropped young opener Ishan Kishan.

Kishan played the first ODI as an emergency replacement for Shikhar Dhawan, who missed out after testing positive for COVID-19. Reserve opener Ruturaj Gaikwad also tested positive, while both KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (also added to the squad recently) were also unavailable for selection for the match.

Rahul has now returned to the team at Kishan's expense. The vice-captain will likely open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.

It also suggests that India is looking at Rahul as a top-order option despite his success in the middle order over the last few years. Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant could thus be the team's long-term middle-order options.

In the Caribbean camp, wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran has taken on captaincy duties from Pollard. During the toss, he revealed that Pollard is down with a "niggle" and has been replaced by bowling all-rounder Odean Smith.

Smith has featured in three ODIs and eight T20Is for the West Indies so far. The lower-order batter has scored 84 runs in ODIs at a strike rate of 227.03 while also picking up three wickets in the 50-over format at an average of 19.0 and an economy rate of 5.61.

Here are the lineups:

🇮🇳: KL Rahul replaces Ishan Kishan at the top.
🌴: Odean Smith replaces Kieron Pollard who misses out due to a niggle. Nicholas Pooran will lead the visitors.

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This will be Pooran's first match as West Indies' ODI captain, becoming the 30th leader in the format for the country. He has previously captained in eight T20Is, with a success rate of 50 percent.

West Indies put India to bat after winning the toss

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3⃣, 2⃣, 1⃣ & Here We Go 👍 👍

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Pooran won the toss on his ODI captaincy debut and asked Rohit Sharma-led India to bat first in Ahmedabad.

The hosts are 1-0 up in the three-match series and will be looking to post a big total today.