Kolkata: After a complete whitewash in the ODI series, India and West Indies are set to lock horns in a tri-match T20I series. The first T20 match will be on February 16 (Wednesday) at Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata at 19:00 PM (IST).
Ishan, who opened in the first match of the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against the WI team in Ahmedabad, expected to open in the T20I alongside and Rohit, after vice-captain KL Rahul was ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
While Ishan may be the preferred choice, Rohit also has options in Ruturaj Gaikwad who has been in red hot form but has only been warming the bench. It will also be interesting if Virat Kohli comes out to open with Rohit to get among runs as he’s been dealing with his poor batting form. His last International century came at this same venue way back in November 2019 in the pink ball Test against Bangladesh.
This will help Rohit try out both Shreyas Iyer and Surkyakumar Yadav in the same XI. The duo was in outstanding form in the recently-concluded ODI series. Suryakumar was the top scorer in the ODI series with 104 runs at an average of 52.00, while Iyer scored a match-winning 80 in their 3-0 series sweeping win in the third ODI.
Meanwhile, Venkatesh Iyer will be the batting all-rounder. With this Ravi Bishnoi’s international debut is on the cards, there would be a toss-up between Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan.
Team India is missing services of four of their key all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. KL Rahul is also unavailable due to a hamstring strain. Hence, India’s playing XI will be interesting to watch out for.
Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur/ Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal
Sharma’s men would be high on confidence. However, West Indies thrashed England 3-2 in their last T20I assignment. Hence, tables can turn aroud this time. As far as West Indies are concerned, they must continue with the combination which earned them success in the previous T20I. In case Pollard continues to be unavailable, Roston Chase might replace him.
Predicted XI: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Romario Shepherd, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard/Roston Chase, Rovaman Powell, Jason Holder, Fabien Allen, Odean Smith, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell.
