A new-look India team, led by Shikhar Dhawan, will be hoping to make a statement and be in the reckoning for next year's 50-over World Cup in the three-match ODI series.

However, the weather has proved to be a spoilsport with rain delaying the start of the series opener at Lucknow's Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium by half an hour.

The city has been experiencing rain for the past couple of days. Heavy showers are expected throughout the day.

India's reserve players will be yearning for an opportunity to prove their mettle out in the middle.

In the absence of big guns like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin, who are off to Australia for the T20 World Cup, the Indian selectors opted for a fresh squad that includes Mukesh Kumar and Rajat Patidar, who earned maiden call-ups.

The squad also features a few T20 World Cup reserve players.

Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, who is part of the reserves named for the T20 World Cup, will serve as Dhawan's deputy in the series.

Right-arm pacer Deepak Chahar and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, the other players from the standby list, have also been included in the ODI team.

Dashing opening batter Shubman Gill, who has impressed in limited opportunities in ODIs, is likely to resume his partnership with Dhawan at the top.

Among other batters, either Rahul Tripathi or Patidar is likely to make an ODI debut on Thursday.

Madhya Pradesh batter Patidar has been rewarded for his stellar performances in domestic cricket, IPL, where he turned out for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and, more recently, his brilliant run for India A against New Zealand A in the four-day games. He smashed two centuries against the Kiwis.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan are the other batters in the squad who will form the fulcrum of India's middle-order.

Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, who was recently called up to the T20I squad for the South Africa series, Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav form India's spin attack.

The pace department will be spearheaded by Shardul Thakur, Chahar, Avesh Khan and Mohammed Siraj and will also have new face Mukesh, a prolific red ball bowler for Bengal, who emerged as top wicket-taker in the first class games against New Zealand A' and produced a stellar show in the Irani Cup match against 2019-20 Ranji champions Saurashtra.

The squad features as many as six players who could potentially make an ODI debut.

The series provides a big opportunity to the second-string players to make their presence felt and impress the selectors with noticeable performances to be in the fray for a place in next year's ODI World Cup.