The first match of the India-West Indies Twenty20 series will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata from 7.30 pm tonight. The assessment is that the Twenty20 will not be as easy as sweeping the series in ODIs. The Windies are a very strong team in the Twenty20. They are confident of winning the Twenty20 series against England.
The BCCI has announced that Rishabh Pant will be India’s vice-captain in the Twenty20 series against the Windies due to the injury of KL Rahul. The decision of the selection committee confirms the debate over whether the ball is a player who is considered to be India’s future captain.
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It is not yet clear whether captain Kieron Pollard will play for the Windies today due to injury. He has missed the last two ODIs due to injury. If Pollard does not play, veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and Roston Chase are likely to feature in the starting XI.
The series is the start of the Rohit Sharma – led team’s preparations for the World Cup in eight months’ time. Indian captain Rohit Sharma and batting coach Vikram Rathore had mentioned this yesterday. Rohit, however, said that it was not right to call the matches ahead of the big tournaments an experiment and that it would put pressure on the youngsters. He added that the goal is to give the young players more opportunities and enable them to fill the gaps that are needed on the team.
Washington Sunder, who was injured during the third match of the ODI series, has been replaced by spinner Kuldeep Yadav. With Rahul and Akshar also out with injuries, more youngsters will get a chance.
Story Highlights: India West Indies Twenty20 today