Form of senior batters the focus in series vs England

The Indian team travels with less baggage now, after BCCI's recently imposed restrictions, but being able to enter the field without any mental baggage will be of far greater importance.

- Rasesh Mandani

While the T20 team has branched out and taken on a new look, India's ODI squad still has many of the batters who toured Australia. Moving on will be vital for them and the team, more so with the two senior pros, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, at the back end of their careers.

It wasn't really a surprise that in the pre-series press conference, Rohit was reminded of his abysmal Test form and quizzed about his India future.

"What sort of a question is that?" he replied to one. "My focus is on these three games and the Champions Trophy, we will see what happens afterwards," he answered to another.

England, India's opponents in the ODI series starting Thursday, are more an extension of their T20I squad who were on show recently, except for the addition of Joe Root. Slightly different philosophies in squad composition aside, expect both teams to go equally hard.

The Indian selectors have trusted their experienced batting group to embrace the urgency that the modern game demands, just like they did 16 months back in the 2023 ODI World Cup. But there has been very little ODI cricket in between. Would that impact them in any way?