Dropped from T20 side for the first time, Men in Blue take on Caribbean team without MS
of selectors Courtney Browne. “Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are injured at this time. Ashley Nurse will miss both the remainder of the India tour and the Bangladesh tour as he recovers from his injury. We wish the team every success on a challenging assignment in India,” Browne said in a statement.
India failed to overcome Brathwaite’s men in their last four encounters and the Windies ended the home team’s campaign in the 2016 T20I World Cup, defeating them in the semi-finals in Mumbai. India’s last win against West Indies came way back on March 23, 2014 in the World T20 in Bangladesh, and Sharma will have his task cut out in his quest to start well at his happy hunting ground.
The 31-year-old has a world record score of 264 in ODIs at the Eden Gardens in 2014, besides winning two IPL titles, in 2013 and 2015. He would look to carry his fine form from the ODI series, in which he finished behind Kohli, with 389 runs, at a staggering average of 129.66. Captaincy seems to bring out the best in Sharma who notched up 317 runs (average 105.66) in five innings in their title-winning campaign at the Asia Cup.
The Windies, on the other hand, will look forward to their youngster Shimron Hetmeyer, who scored 259 runs in the ODI series, including a century in Guwahati. Kohli’s absence would mean KL Rahul will come into the picture while Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant are expected to add firepower in the middle-order alongside Krunal Pandya.
Pant is expected to fulfil the wicket-keeping responsibilities while Karthik could
take on one of the positions in the outfield. The Indian seam attack will be led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, which now includes additional variation session at the nets and also bowled his orthodox left-arm spin under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Bharat Arun.
It was late in the evening the BCCI released the XII Krunal figuring in the list. Krunal had some consistent performances for Mumbai Indians, Baroda and India ‘A’ during the past three years and his left-arm spin is expected to add variety to Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s twopronged wrist spin attack.
in the form of left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed. In the spin department, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will look to build on their chemistry. India have also
named uncapped Krunal Pandya in the final 12.
The Eden centre strip promises to be full of runs, and batsmen from both sides will look to make merry. SQUADS:
Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed.
Carlos Brathwaite (Capt), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Oshane Thomas, Khary Pierre, Obed McCoy, Rovman Powell, Nicholas Pooran.