India tour to West Indies 2019 [Preview]

India is all set to tour West Indies in the month of August and September to play three T20Is, three ODIs followed by two-match Test series. Indian Captain Virat Kohli will be hoping that the side can start the new season on a winning note.

Kohli and co. were eliminated from the semifinals of ICC Cricket World Cup played in England and Wales. The side will have new faces coming into the squad for the T20I series against West Indies. Navdeep Saini, Rahul Chahar and Shreyas Iyer have earned their call-ups to the national side following their excellent performances for their respective franchises in this year’s Indian Premier League.

In the batting department, the onus will be on the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to get the side off to a good start. Dhawan has fully recovered from thumb injury and been declared fit for this tour. Left-hander will be looking to make an impression with the bat in this three-match T20I series.

Indian Captain Virat Kohli made himself available for this three-match T20I series and will be looking to deliver the goods with the bat against West Indies.

Despite his noticeable struggles in the recent ICC Cricket World Cup, Rahul will put behind all the disappointments and keen to make an impression with the bat in this series. There is no doubt that Rahul has produced impressive  numbers for India in the 20-over format and will be keen to continue his good form in this T20I series against West Indies.

Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Krunal Pandya will make up the middle-order for India for this three-match T20I series. Iyer has been rewarded for his splendid performances with the bat in the Indian Premier League. For Manish Pandey, he really needs to start producing runs on a consistent basis or else he might another player waiting to be dropped from the squad.

All-rounder Krunal Pandya will be keen to produce his best cricket with bat and ball in this series. Ravendra Jadeja won the praise of the cricket fans and pundits for his magical innings against New Zealand in the World Cup semifinal game played at Old Trafford, Manchester. He will be keen to build on his recent success and do well for India in this three-match T20I series.

Navdeep Saini is another new addition to the pace bowling department. He can certainly bowl quick and showed a lot of promise with the ball while playing in the Indian Premier League. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed will be prominent pace options for the side for this series.

On the other hand, West Indies will be looking to start their home series on a decent note. Captain Carlos Brathwaite will be hoping that his relatively inexperienced side can deliver a decent show with the bat and ball.

The likes of John Campbell, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetymer are promising players that will need to produce runs for the side in this T20I series.

Rovman Powell, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell are quality players that can strike a cricket ball a long way.  Pollard shows signs of form in the Pakistan Super League and also played key role in Mumbai Indians winning their fourth crown in the Indian Premier League.

Carlos Brathwaite delivered a fantastic innings for West Indies in a World Cup game played against New Zealand at Manchester. All-rounder will certainly be looking to be more consistent runs with the bat and lead from the front in this T20I series against West Indies.

Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre and  Sunil Narine are players that can provide value with bat and ball for the West Indies.Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas will be two premier pace options for West Indies for this series.

The opening game of the T20I series will be played at Lauderhill in Florida on 3rd August. The second game will be played at the same venue. The third and final T20I game will be played at Providence Stadium in Guyana on 6th August.

After the culmination of the three-match T20I series, Virat Kohli’s India will take on West Indies in a three-match one-day series that starts from 8th August. The first game will be played at Guyana while the remaining two matches will be played at Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad on  11th and 14th August.

Then India will play two-match Test series against West Indies that is slated to begin from 22nd August in Antigua.The second game will be played at Sabina Park in Jamaica from 30th August to 3rd September.