Shardul Thakur replaces Shivam Dube as India bat in must-win contest

West Indies won the toss again and inserted India in a must-win contest for the hosts in the three-ODI series. It was a big advantage for the visitors as pitches tend to quicken up in the night and dew becomes a factor too.

West Indies made two changes to their winning combination. The return of Evin Lewis strengthened their batting further, and legpsinner Hayden Walsh made way for debutant left-arm spinner Khary Pierre.

India resisted the temptation of playing both the wristspinners together. They have been reluctant to play them both in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who can bat at No. 8. In this case, though, it is possible they didn’t want to end up with two wristspinners should they lose the toss and have to bowl in wet conditions. However, they did strengthen their bowling, leaving out allrounder Shivam Dube for Shardul Thakur.

India 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Kuldeep Yadav

West Indies 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt.), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Keemo Paul, 9 Khary Pierre, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Sheldon Cottrell

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *