England is taking on India in the first One Day International (ODI) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on March 23. This is part of the three-match ODI series.
All three ODIs will be played at the same venue, behind closed doors amid resurging COVID-19 cases.
While the ground, on the outskirts of Pune, has hosted only four ODIs, it is known to favour batting. A score of 300 has been breached thrice at the venue.
Both the Men in Blue and the English team are coming into the series having faced 2-1 ODI series losses against Australia.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is leading Indian pacers in what is his fourth ODI since the 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final. For England, Sam Billings is playing his first match of the tour. Ben Stokes is also playing his first one-day game since his match-winning knock in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final at Lord's.
Prior to this match, India defeated England 3-2 in the five-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series.
India also won the Test series 3-1 earlier to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship Final to be played (against New Zealand) later this year. This ODI series will be followed by the Indian Premier League (IPL) domestic T20 tournament.
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