India playing XI vs West Indies: The SportsRush presents India’s probable playing XI for the 1st T20I against West Indies.
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India begin their tour of the West Indies with a T20I tomorrow. Both sides will look to put behind the disappointment of the recently concluded World Cup. West Indies won only two matches in the Quadrennial event to finish at 9th place. India fared much better and topped the group stages. However, one bad afternoon meant that their campaign ended at the semi-final stage.
Also read: Watch Peter Siddle take a one handed stunner to dismiss Joe Root
There is no point in crying over spilt milk though and both teams will now set their sights on the World T20, scheduled for next year in Australia. West Indies and India will both be looking to set the tone for their preparations through this series starting at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Florida tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1157119563852468224
India have gone with a relatively inexperienced squad. The idea behind this according to Kohli, is to try out the fringe players who are currently on the selectors radar. India have a worrying concern over their middle order and will hope to find some answers through the Caribbean tour. While there is no word on what the playing eleven will look like tomorrow, here is our pick on what the team may look like.
India playing XI vs West Indies
Top Order
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli pick themselves in the team. Despite Rohit’s brilliant pairing with KL Rahul in the world cup, a fit Dhawan will always hold more precedence than the Karnataka opener. The trio of Kohli, Dhawan and Sharma have scored the bulk of India’s runs for a long time. This is one of the reason India has dominated the format for so long despite having a fragile middle order and Indian fans will hope that they will continue in the same vein.
Middle Order
It is fair to say that KL Rahul is arguably India’s best batsmen outside of the top 3. The Indian team also feels as the same as they have persisted with him through thick and thin. While Rahul would preferably bat at the top, he gave a good account of himself in the middle order earlier in England. It is likely that he will follow Virat Kohli in the batting line up and lend much required meat in the middle.
The number position is a toss up between Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer. However, Pandey’s experience may just see him pip Iyer for the spot, unless Kohli decides to bet on the youngster instead. Rishabh Pant, who is looking to seal the wicket Keeper’s spot following the lack of clarity over MS Dhoni’s future, should bat at 6 followed by Ravindra Jadeja, who singlehandedly took India to the brink of victory against New Zealand in the world cup Semi-Final. Besides Jadeja and Pant at number 6 and 7 give India much needed firepower towards the end. It also doesn’t hurt that Jadeja can hurl 4 quick overs of accurate bowling.
Bowlers
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, being the most experienced bowler in the squad will lead the bowling Unit tomorrow. He will most likely be accompanied by Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar. Both of these youngsters performed very well in the IPL and will hope to make the most of the opportunities they receive in the series. Jadeja and Krunal could very well take up the 4th and 5th bowling slots. In doing so, they will also extend the batting line-up, a blessing in the unpredictable format of T20’s. Rahul Chahar and Washington Sundar may also get a look in ahead of Krunal. However, Rahul being a wrist spinner may just give him the edge over Sundar, who for the most part is very similar to both Jadeja and Krunal but finds himself outdone in all departments by them.
India’s predicted playing XI for the first T20I against West Indies:
(1) Shikhar Dhawan (2) Rohit Sharma (3) Virat Kohli (4) KL Rahul (5) Manish Pandey/ Shreyas Iyer (6) Rishabh Pant (7) Ravindra Jadeja (8) Krunal Pandey/Rahul Chahar (9) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10) Deepak Chahar (11) Khaleel Ahmed
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