• Rohit Sharma begins his full-time ODI tenure on Sunday.
• India play the West Indies of their 1,000th one-day worldwide.
• “It is a big moment for Indian cricket, but unfortunately, the match will be played without a crowd,” Sourav Ganguly says.

NEW DELHI: India’s new white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma will begin his full-time ODI tenure on Sunday as his crew will play the West Indies of their 1,000th one-day worldwide, the primary facet ever to attain the milestone.

The encounter on the world’s greatest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad is the primary of a three-match sequence however will probably be performed behind closed doorways due to the coronavirus pandemic.

India handed 500,000 deaths from the virus on Friday, though an infection charges within the present Omicron outbreak have slowed in latest days.

“I was the captain of India in the 500th ODI,” India’s cricket chief Sourav Ganguly advised Indian journal Sportstar — a 2002 recreation towards England in Chester-le-Road.

“It is a big moment for Indian cricket, but unfortunately, the match will be played without a crowd.”

The hosts have been hit by the virus themselves with 4 gamers together with Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad being remoted after testing optimistic.

Mayank Agarwal has been added to the squad and will probably be a candidate to open the batting alongside Rohit, though vice-captain KL Rahul stays a risk.

The 34-year-old Rohit, who took over the T20 after which ODI captaincy from Virat Kohli, was dominated out of India’s tour of South Africa by a hamstring damage when the guests misplaced the Take a look at sequence 2-1 and had been whitewashed 3-0 in ODIs.

He’s main the one-day facet in a 12 months that may see the T20 World Cup in Australia and is favorite to be named Take a look at captain as properly.

Indian broadcasters have been selling the West Indies sequence with a tune on Rohit’s comeback probably to enhance the hosts, and the star batsman acknowledged the praise.

“Humbled by the lovely rap @StarSportsIndia Looking forward to be back on the field and take inspiration from the fans’ continued support as India takes on West Indies,” Rohit wrote on Twitter.

India have residence benefit however will face a tricky problem towards the West Indies who’re recent from a 3-2 T20 triumph towards England at residence.

The as soon as mighty West Indies, two-time ODI World Cup winners, celebrated the sequence win after their disastrous T20 World Cup defence and a shock 50-overs sequence loss to Eire.

Tempo bowler Kemar Roach has been recalled to Kieron Pollard’s facet and the highlight will probably be on tempo bowler Jason Holder, who claimed a hat-trick and took 4 wickets in 4 balls within the series-clinching T20 win over England.

“For me, this is the closest that I’ve felt a group be in a very, very long time,” Holder was quoted as saying by web site ESPNcricinfo.

“Honest to God, the energy I felt from the meetings…most contributions I’ve ever seen in a West Indies dressing room. Even though you might not understand a certain decision, everybody’s still buying in with it.”

However he added: “I don’t think it’s a finished product and we’ve got to strive to be consistent.”

The ODIs will probably be adopted by three T20 matches at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.