Over the weekend, a strong north-easterly breeze brought some much-needed respite to many parts of the United Kingdom reeling under an intense heatwave. On Tuesday (July 14) at Edgbaston here, the Indian cricket team will be hoping for the winds of change to blow in its direction too when it takes on England in the first of three ODIs.
Part of the lengthy build-up towards the ODI World Cup late next year in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, the ODIs had a narrow but important purpose.
Now, they have acquired the additional burden of treating the scars – rather brutal injuries – that have ravaged the team after six straight losses to Ireland and England in as many completed T20Is.
It will help that there will be a wholesale change in personnel, with ODI specialists such as skipper Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul coming in.
Kohli will be the cynosure of most eyes, for he hasn’t played since the IPL final on May 31, and sat out of the home fixtures against Afghanistan because of a hamstring injury.
Jasprit Bumrah is also set to feature for the first time since the ODI World Cup final loss to Australia way back in November 2023.
England’s Harry Brook attends a nets session in Birmingham, England, Monday July 13, 2026
| Photo Credit:
AP
The 32-year-old’s workload is carefully managed, and he only plays the format in which the next important global tournament is. In an Indian cricket set-up that is otherwise used to gorging, he is the only intermittent faster.
Shreyas Iyer will be keenly watched. He has to first shed the baggage from captaining India to the six recent defeats as the new T20I leader.
Though he scored two half-centuries, his returns in the 50-over match-ups have not been great of late. Against Afghanistan, he made 12, 26 and 20 not out. Versus New Zealand earlier this year – a series India lost 1-2 – the 31-year-old totalled 60 runs.
On the other hand, England may have beaten India 4-0 in the T20Is, but it has not played an ODI since the 2-1 triumph over Sri Lanka in January. In fact, following the disastrous seventh-place finish in the 2023 World Cup, it has lost six out of eight bilateral ODI series.
There is also more than a tinge of instability affecting its ranks. After Ben Stokes’ messy retirement, coach Brendon McCullum lost his Test job on Sunday on the back of the 1-2 series defeat to New Zealand. The Kiwi will now be solely in charge of the white-ball teams, a role he has held since September 2024.
Compartmentalisation will be key, both for India and England.
The teams (from)
England: Harry Brook (Capt.), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, James Coles, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Josh Tongue.
India: Shubman Gill (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, K.L. Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Prince Yadav.
Match starts at 3.30 p.m. IST
Published – July 14, 2026 04:23 am IST
