West Indies and India opened the three-match One-Day International series at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Friday with the visitors, albeit without their most famous players, favored to improve on one tough home team. India, fresh from a 2-1 series win in England, opted to drop regular skipper Rohit Sharma, key batsman Virat Kohli, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. It offers talented and enthusiastic players the opportunity to capitalize on the loss of stars at the expense of a team that beat Bangladesh 3-0 in Guyana last week.

India vs. West Indies: India are preparing to muster more trouble in the West Indies matches

West Indies and India will meet in a three-match ODI series from Friday.

West Indies and India opened the three-match One-Day International series at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Friday with the visitors, albeit without their most famous players, favored to improve on one tough home team. India, fresh from a 2-1 series win in England, opted to drop regular skipper Rohit Sharma, key batsman Virat Kohli, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. It offers talented and enthusiastic players the opportunity to capitalize on the loss of stars at the expense of a team that beat Bangladesh 3-0 in Guyana last week.

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran complained about the quality of the pitches against Bangladesh in Providence and the timing of the early start, which he felt tried to favor the bowling team too much.

These speculations ignore the fact that the two previous World Cup winners have been consistently poor in the 50-overs-per-side format for many years.

With the inclement weather before the start of the series, it is possible that the game will not be different from the conditions for the bowlers in Guyana. While this quintet of star players has settled for a while, India are experiencing a stigma of riches, especially in the bowling department, where they have the quality and variety to take advantage of the conditions and weak West Indies batting line-up.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj and wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal are expected to lead the effort to keep the pressure on their opponents, most of whom want a technical and spirited approach to the Bangladesh-led attack.

The return of Jason Holder is a bit of encouraging news for the home team in the time since the series ended in Bangladesh.

After rest for the series in Netherlands, Pakistan and the visit of Bangladesh, the all-rounder and former captain will be looking for inspiration with bat and ball.

Current captain Pooran was under immense pressure to get his team out of a slump where it looked like they would sink very quickly after a comfortable 2-0 series win in the Tests and T20 Internationals against Bangladesh. His top score of 73 at the Guyana National Stadium on Saturday ended a streak of average contributions in ODIs.

However, West Indies must have all hands on deck, especially opening batsman Shai Hope, if they are to post near-class totals that could seriously challenge their opponents. .

Among the many big names India are without, batsmen Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav are expected to take the lead along with all-rounder Deepak Hooda.

With the next T20 World Cup campaign just months away in Australia, followed by India hosting another 50-over World Cup in 2023, the incentives to deliver are huge.

All three ODIs will be played at Queen's Park Oval after the teams change format but will remain in Trinidad for the first T20 International at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.

From there to St. Kitts for two games before ending a five-game streak in the United States with two games in Lauderhill, Florida.

Teams (probable): West Indies - Nicholas Pooran (captain), Shai Hope (wicketkeeper), Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Keacy Carty, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales.

India - Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan.