Riding high after clinching the One-Day International (ODI) series, the Indian team will look to repeat their performance against West Indies in the one-off Twenty20 International (T20I) at Sabina Park here on Sunday.
The visitors have retained the same squad which won them the ODI series 3-1 while the Carlos Brathwaite-led West Indies have made significant changes for the match.
It will be a slightly more difficult task for the men-in-blue to outplay the hosts like they did in the ODI series because the West Indies T20 team seems to be a more balanced side as compared to the ODI squad.
West Indies will rely heavily on their swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle who has joined the T20 squad to provide them a good start against a decent Indian bowling line-up.
Brathwaite, all-rounder Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels are the other important inclusions for the side in the batting department, who will look to go hard at the Indian bowlers.
The bowling department under the likes of experienced pacer Jerome Taylor and spinning duo Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine will look to put the brakes on the formidable Indian batting line-up.
More From This Section
On the other hand, the Indian batting line with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh will look to help their side put up a big total keeping in mind the visitors strength in batting.
Kohli may also make some changes in the playing XI with the kind of depth India has got in their squad.
India's bowling department will be duly tested with the hard-hitting West Indian batsmen on show for West Indies in the shorter format.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Dinesh Karthik.
West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton (wicketkeeper), Kesrick Williams.
--IANS
sam/bg