West Indies tour to India [Preview]
West Indies is all set to tour India in the month of December to play three T20Is and three ODIs. Kieron Pollard will lead the side for the T20I and ODI series. West Indies will be keen to do well after doing well against Afghanistan in the previous game. They managed to beat Afghanistan in the ODI and Test series played in India.
Evin Lewis, Brandon King and Kieron Pollard have shown excellent form for the side in the T20 format. West Indies lost their previous T20 series to Afghanistan. The batting department will need to stand up and deliver the goods if West Indies aim to turn their fortunes around in the series against India.
Kesrick Williams delivered impressive performances for the side in the T20 series played against Afghanistan. In the bowling department, the responsibility will be on the likes of Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder and Keemo Paul to provide crucial breakthroughs.
Bowling all-rounder Fabian Allen, Khary Pierre and Hayden Walsh are three prominent spinners included in the squad for the three-match T20I series that will be played in India.
On the other hand, India have announced their T20I squad for the three-match series against West Indies. Virat Kohli makes a comeback into the side and will lead the side for this T20I series. All-rounder Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar have retained their place in the squad due to good performances in the T20I series against Bangladesh.
The senior pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami have made their comeback into the squad for the three-match T20I series against West Indies.
The opening game of the T20I series will be played on 6th December at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. The second game of the series will be played at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on 8th December. The third and final game of the T20I series will be played on 11th December at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to conclude the series.
India and West Indies will then compete in a three-match one-day series that will begin from 15th December. For India, experienced pace duo of Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have made return to the side. Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur have been dropped from the one-day squad.
In the batting department, India will be relying on their top order trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan to deliver the bulk of the runs. Since January 2019, Sharma has been shown tremendous consistency for the side in limited-overs cricket. Opener has accumulated 1288 runs in 25 one-day games at an average of 53.56 with five centuries to his name. He will be one player to watch out for India in this three-match one-day series.
Indian Captain Virat Kohli is another player who has been in stupendous form for India in white-ball cricket. Kohli has topped the batting charts for India so far this season with 1288 runs at an average of 64.40 with five centuries to his name. He will be looking to produce a lot of runs for the side in this three-match one-day series.
On the bowling front, the likes of Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be first-choice pace attack for the side for this game. Pacer Mohammad Shami has shown excellent form for India in white-ball cricket this season. He has claimed 37 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 21.32. The pacer will be keen to make an impact with the ball in this three-match series.
Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravendra Jadeja are three spin options for the side for this one-day series.
For the visitors, West Indies has named unchanged for the one-day series against India. Bowling all-rounder Fabian Allen has been included in the T20 squad for the injured wicket-keeper Shai Hope.
In the batting department, the side will be relying on Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Kieron Pollard to deliver the bulk of runs, whereas Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder will lead the pace-attack for the West Indies.
