India VS West Indies, 1st T20: Match Preview
The five-match series provides an opportunity for both teams to finalise their T20 World Cup preparations
Shimron Hetmyer returned to the WI squadWith the World Cup in Australia less than three months away, this five-match T20I series provides an excellent opportunity for the West Indies and India to finalise their preparations.
India Lineup
India will look to fine-tune their approach with Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya returning after being rested for the ODI series. They've also brought Paddy Upton as a mental conditioning coach to keep the players focused.
Suryakumar Yadav will retain his spot in today’s match as his T20 record is better than ODI’s.
Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant were never meant to compete for the same position. However, if India uses Karthik as a specialist finisher, one fewer middle-order slot will be available. Sanju Samson has been included in the Indian Squad for the current WI T20 series.
West Indies Lineup
Nicholas Pooran will be the key to West Indies' fortunes once more. Shimron Hetmyer, who has returned to the squad after proving his fitness, will be there to support him.
At IPL 2022, Hetmyer excelled as a finisher for Rajasthan Royals, scoring 314 in 15 innings at a strike rate of 153.92. But he hasn't played any cricket in the two months since then.
Evin Lewis is still out; the West Indies will likely stick with the opening combination of Kyle Mayers and Brandon King.
Pitch and weather: IND VS WI
This will be the first international match held at Tarouba's Brian Lara Stadium. The stadium has hosted 31 CPL games, the most recent in 2020. In those games, the scoring rate was 7.40. The weather, on the other hand, could be a stumbling block, with an 80 per cent chance of rain on Friday morning.
IND VS WI 1st T20 2022 Playing XIs
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Rishabh Pant (wk), 3 Deepak Hooda/Shreyas Iyer, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 R Ashwin/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Avesh Khan/Arshdeep Singh
West Indies: 1 Kyle Mayers, 2 Brandon King, 3 Nicholas Pooran (capt & wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Odean Smith/Dominic Drakes/Romario Shepherd, 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Obed McCoy, 11 Hayden Walsh Jr
Follow all of today's Cricket matches on our Live Match Centre