🏏India Vs West Indies - 1st T20I at Tarouba at 8PM IST🏏

🏏India Vs West Indies - 1st T20I - Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba at 8PM IST on 29/07/2022🏏

Move over ODI cricket, the new dying format of the game. Welcome, T20Is, the koolest kid on the block, more so in a T20 World Cup year.

With the global tournament in Australia less than three months away, this five-match T20I series presents a big opportunity for West Indies and India to firm up their plans.

It doesn't seem long ago when the Indian players were gearing up for the challenge of facing England in their own turf. But such is the hectic schedule that it feels as if the Indian set-up is akin to a train chugging along from one station to another without any break. After playing six limited overs games in England followed by an ODI series in the West Indies, the next stop for the Indian team is a T20I series against the Caribbean side.

Once again the narrative surrounding the T20I rubber, starting with the first game at the Brian Lara stadium, would be about testing different players in order to pick a formidable squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia. Despite the hectic schedule, India have done remarkably well to not get hit by the inconsistency bug in England and the West Indies so far. With so many matches being played, the think tank has looked to rotate the players. Among those players returning to the set-up, the onus will be firmly on R Ashwin. The off-spinner needs enough arrows in his quiver to survive in an era where spinners who bowl quick through the air and zoom the ball on the stumps are preferred in the shortest format.

Team News

West Indies

The West Indies announced a 16-member squad with Hetmyer returning to the fold after passing a fitness test. The aggressive middle order batter is set to slot into the side.

Probable XI: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Odean Smith, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, Obed McCoy and Hayden Walsh jnr/Alzarri Joseph

India

The visitors might be tempted to give chances to Deepak Hooda and Arshdeep Singh. R Jadeja missed out on the ODI series due to a fitness issue and could be rested for the opening T20I as well, with the in-form Axar Patel taking his place.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda/Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, R Ashwin/Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh

According to reports from weather.com, the temperature of Trinidad on July 29 (Friday) will be 32° Celcius during the day and fall to 24° Celcius at night. The sky will witness thunderstorms during the day and night.

The chances of rain are 36% during the day and 61% at night. Hence, WI vs IND 1st T20I might be affected by rains. The humidity will be around 65% during the day and rise to 85% at night.

Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad has not hosted any international matches so far. It has only hosted Caribbean Premier League games in the past. It will be the first time that an international match will be played at the stadium.

In the spotlight

Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant were not supposed to compete for the same spot. But if India play Karthik as a specialist finisher, that means there is one fewer middle-order slot available. If we consider Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya as the certainties for the World Cup, Pant's place could possibly be in danger. In 50 T20Is, Pant has a strike rate of just 124.27, which pales in comparison to his overall T20 strike rate of 145.44. Is being a left-hander enough to warrant a place in the side? But then has Karthik done enough to secure his place in the XI? He is supposed to be the enforcer in the last five overs, but his first-ten-balls strike rate in T20Is this year is a mere 81.36 (48 runs off 59 balls). For comparison, his corresponding strike rate in IPL 2022 was 166.67 (190 runs off 114 balls). This series should give India a clearer picture for this conundrum.Shimron Hetmyer has proved his fitness, but is he carrying his form as well with him? At IPL 2022, he excelled in the role of a finisher for Rajasthan Royals, scoring 314 in 15 innings at a strike rate of 153.92. But in the two months since then, he hasn't played any cricket. And just like Pant, he too has contrasting strike rates in T20Is and T20s. Overall, he has struck at 133.45 but at the international level, that number plummets to 118.71.

Both Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja are two strikes away from 50 T20I wickets. Only Yuzvendra Chahal (79), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (70), Jasprit Bumrah (69) and R Ashwin (61) have taken 50 or more wickets for India in T20Is.

On Wednesday, Martin Guptill (3399) overtook Rohit (3379) as the leading run-scorer in T20Is. Both players will be in action on Friday.

Eleven bowlers have bowled ten or more powerplay overs in T20Is this year. Among those, Akeal Hosein's economy rate of 9.20 is the worst in that phase.

Raji, Thanks for tag🤗

Hinna, match hain...

Welcome to the first T20I of this five-match series between West Indies and India. While India dominated proceedings in the ODIs sweeping the series 3-0, West Indies are a different cup of tea in the T20 format. They will be further bolstered by the return of Shimron Hetmyer and he alongside Nicholas Pooran, will be look to inflict some damage as the two-time World Champions seek a comeback. India, on the other hand, will just look to carry the momentum into the T20 leg as well.

The first bit of news for the day is that Sanju Samson has replaced Covid-struck KL Rahul in the T20I squad. After failing to qualify for the knockouts of the 2021 T20 World Cup, India changed their batting template. This year, they have scored at a rate of 9.45 per over. If you leave aside 2013, when they played just one T20I, this is their best scoring rate in any calendar year. Will they continue taking the aggressive route? This and more in Hemant Brar's preview for the game.

TOSS: West Indies win the toss and field

West Indies: 1 Shamarh Brooks, 2 Shimron Hetmyer, 3 Odean Smith, 4 Kyle Mayers, 5 Keemo Paul, 6 Nicholas Pooran (capt & wk), 7 Rovman Powell, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Obed McCoy, 10 Akeal Hosein,11 Alzarri Joseph

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Rishabh Pant (wk), 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya (vice-capt), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 R Ashwin, 11 Arshdeep Singh