IN THE 200th T20 international match host West Indies will take on India on Saturday June 4 at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain. The Indian team is without key senior players, and will kick-off the month long series with the one-off Twenty20 match.
The Indian team is without ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 star performers such as captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan. In the T20 and one day internationals young Suresh Raina is leading the Indian team.
The Indian team has many domestic match winners in the squad who have to prove themselves in the absence of key senior players. However, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli are two most promising young cricketers of the team.
Yusuf Pathan, who is one of the most powerful batsmen of the team, has to show his consistency. Rohit Sharma, who is considered as one of the most talented Indian batsman, has failed many times in the international matches.
In bowling, captain Suresh Raina has some quality bowlers including Vice-captain Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, and R. Ashwin. Wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel is likely to open the innings.
The West Indies team is also without some of its star performers including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Kemar Roach. Dashing opener Chris Gayle, who scored more than 600 runs in the just concluded Indian Premier League, was not considered for selection by the Caribbean board for any match in this series till he has a review with the board.
In Trinidad, there is forecast of rain for the weekend and the following week. Earlier, there was heavy rain and it is predicted that seamers will get pace and bounce from the pitch.
Given below are the squads of India and West indies in the only T20 match of the tour:
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons
India: Suresh Raina (captain), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain),Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.