Rain on the horizon in second ODI

India's batting looked in good shape before rain forced the first One-Day International against Windies to be abandoned in Port of Spain on Friday. With the second match of the five-match series at the same venue on Sunday, Virat Kohli's men will be hoping for less rain and more play at the Queen's Park Oval.

Shikhar Dhawan brought his good ICC Champions Trophy 2017 form into this bilateral series and Ajinkya Rahane, opening in place of the rested Rohit Sharma, also hit a half-century, the duo laying a sound platform with a century stand.

Both openers looked untroubled against the Windies attack as India made 199 for 3 in 39.2 overs before rain arrived. A lengthy delay followed, bringing the first innings to a close, and Windies was set 194 in 26 overs but more rain forced the match to be called off before the chase could begin.

While India didn't get much wrong on Friday, Rahane will be eager to make more gains to cement a spot in the ODI squad at least, being the likely fourth-choice opener once KL Rahul regains full fitness.

There is no reason for Kohli to change the playing XI, which will give Yuvraj Singh one more chance to come good after having fallen cheaply in the first ODI. Kuldeep Yadav saw his debut match rained off, and he’ll be itching to have a bowl in 50-overs cricket.

Windies meanwhile, will want the bowling attack to become more incisive. India’s openers put on 132 and were separated only in the 25th over. Windies will want to make a dent much before that. As the ICC Champions Trophy showed, India’s batting is difficult to stop unless early wickets fall.

Devendra Bishoo, the legspinner, bowled the most economical spell for Windies, giving away just 39 runs in his ten overs and accounting for Dhawan’s wicket.

Rain has given Windies a blank slate to work with in the next game, and Jason Holder's men would do well to make the most of a fresh start.

However, the teams' fortunes may not entirely be in their hands with heavy rains across the region forecast in the coming week.

Squads (from)

**India:**Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Umesh Yadav.

Windies: Jason Holder (capt), Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Alzarri Joseph, Jason Mohammed, Kieran Powell, Kesrick Williams, Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase, Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell.