What next for India after Pakistan humiliation? A pointless ODI series

The best way to get over a big loss, particularly when it is in a major final and against your biggest rivals, is to move onto the next game as quickly as possible. India will be doing that starting this weekend, but it won't exactly be the most important or high-profile matches that they will play this year.

After suffering a massive defeat to Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the next stop for Virat Kohli and his band of blue-clad men is a limited-over series in the Caribbean against the West Indies.

As nice as it is to move on from the loss in the final, the India players will be wondering what the point of all this is at the end of the day.

Travelling all the way to the Caribbean for a full series or even a pure Test series makes sense, but to go there right after a major ODI tournament to play five one-day internationals and a lone T20 is bordering on the ridiculous. The first ODI begins on Friday, with the final match of the tour, a one-off T20I, on July 9.

Nothing turns the fans off more than matches that lack context, and the biggest worry for sport is an international cricket calendar filled with matches and series that lack context.

At least, when it is a full series you can say, "OK, it is after a fantastic Test series" or "OK, there is a Test series to come after these ODI matches." But, this one, where India, and that too pretty much a full-strength India – only Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are missing from the squad – will play just a bunch of limited-overs games does seem utterly pointless.

Yes, these matches, any one-day match from now, are important for the West Indies, as they look to climb back to the top eight of the ICC rankings in order to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup in England, but, at the end of the day, all this is, is a money-spinner.

All teams welcome India to their shores, because they know with that come the big bucks. And while that is fine as long as those series' have context – if India were playing the West Indies before the Champions Trophy, it would have made a world of sense – it becomes ridiculous when it so obviously being done just to fill in some games and make some money.

When Kohli is asked the question of "How important do you think this series is," the India captain will, no doubt, give the standard reply of "Every matches that we play for the country is important."

But, we all know this series isn't important, definitely not for India. If they win or lose, it is going to make little difference going into the rest of the year.