India’s Predicted Playing XI for first T20I vs Windies: Sportsrush presents before you India’s Playing XI for the first T20I vs Windies.

A 16-member squad for a three-match T20I series to be played at home sounds strange. Isn’t it? Well, that has what the Indian selectors have announced for the series against Windies.

It is also worth mentioning that it is this team which won’t be comprising former captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a news which has created furore since the last week.

With regular captain Virat Kohli being given a rest, India will once again be led by Rohit Sharma, under whom they won the Nidahas Trophy earlier this year.

India should prepare for a formidable Windies T20I line-up for the shortest the format, the dangerous they can be. The first match of the series will be played on November 4 at  Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

India’s Predicted Playing XI for first T20I vs Windies

1. Top-order – Having won their last T20I assignment 2-1 in England, India will continue with the same top-order – Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Lokesh Rahul. Given their recent run, India won’t be worried at all about their openers in Sharma and Dhawan.

In which is a fearful combo, Rahul has a T20I average of 49.71 and a strike rate of 155.01. Currently the No. 3 ranked T20I batsman, Rahul would be looking to make  optimum use of this opportunity for he hasn’t got many chances in limited-over formats this year.

2. Middle-order – One of the major objective of dropping Dhoni was to give more chances to Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. In such a situation, the team management would be wanting to not just play the duo but bat them up the order in all the matches. Hence, Pant and Karthik shouldn’t bat nowhere below No. 4 and No. 5 in the upcoming series. Both of them chiefly bat the same position in the Indian Premier League as well.

The Indian selectors have named as many as five spin-bowling options in the 16-member squad. In a bid to attain all-round balance, four of them are expected to play in Kolkata.

Krunal Pandya, who has been doing well for Mumbai Indians in the IPL for at least a couple of years now, will be seen making his international debut. Whereas, Washington Sundar will make a comeback into the team. With both of them batting at No. 6 and No. 7 respectively, it will provide India will the much-needed batting strength down the order.

3. Bowlers – Alongside Pandya and Sundar, India are likely to play four specialist bowlers for taking the field in a T20I match against Windies would be a naive idea. A sorted bowling line-up comprising of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav is all in likeliness of restricting the opposition to as low a total as possible.

India’s Predicted Playing XI for first T20I against Windies – 1) Rohit Sharma (c) 2) Shikhar Dhawan 3) Lokesh Rahul 4) Rishabh Pant (wk) 5) Dinesh Karthik 6) Krunal Pandya 7) Washington Sundar 8) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9) Kuldeep Yadav 10) Yuzvendra Chahal 11) Jasprit Bumrah

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on the Indian team below: