Predicted XI for India for the ODI Series against England

India begin a new year of cricket on Sunday, with the limited-overs side set to take on England in a three-match ODI and T20I series, which starts at the Gahunje Stadium in Pune. 

Ahead of that, we look at the Predicted XI for the ODI series:

Top Order

1.Shikhar Dhawan

The left-hander, who will play a couple of warm-up matches, prior to the start of the ODIs, will look to get off to a good start in the new year. Dhawan played in just one ODI series in 2016 against Australia at the start of last year and made 287 runs in 5 matches at an average of 57.40.

The year 2017 will see in all probably open the innings at the Champions Trophy, the event which kick-started his international career and he will want to go into the event in June, on the back of a good series against England at home.

2.KL Rahul

The right-hander made his debut in ODI cricket in 2016 and what a start he had to his 50-over career, smashing a hundred against Zimbabwe at Harare. He did well in the remaining two ODIs as well, showing that he was not merely a one format player.

In the T20I series against West Indies, Rahul batted at Number 4 and scored a ton, but he could take Ajinkya Rahane's place at the opening slot and if that happens to be the case on Sunday, will look to begin the year on a blazing note in Pune.

3.Virat Kohli(C)

Sunday will see the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket with Virat Kohli taking over the reigns full-time from MS Dhoni and after having a sensational 2016, the right-hander will now look to carry forward from where he had left off in 2016. 

Kohli has not let the Test captaincy affect his batting and if he can separate batting and leadership in the limited-overs format, the surely India would have yet another superb leader who could take India to much greater heights.