Trinidad: India will square off against the West Indies in a five-match T20I series, the first of which begins on 29th July 2022 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad. India will enter this series on the back of a 3-0 triumph against the hosts in the ODI series.
Rohit Sharma, who missed the ODI series, returns to lead the team. Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik are in the squad as well. Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also makes a return for the Men in Blue. Ashwin last played a T20I for India in November 2021 against New Zealand.
For West Indies, explosive batter Shimron Hetmyer makes a return to the squad. Nicholas Pooran will continue to lead the Men in Maroon for the five-match rubber.
This series will also provide Rohit Sharma the chance to overtake Martin Guptill as the leading run scorer in T20Is. Guptill (3399 runs) is currently just 20 runs ahead of Rohit (3379 runs).
Ahead of the series, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma stated that the composition of the team is good and India are looking forward to the Caribbean challenge.
“The composition is good, we have got a good mix of players who can cover all facets of the game. There are a few guys who have been rested also keeping in mind the workload. We also need to make sure that everyone is fresh, come the World Cup, we don’t want to be having any injuries or niggles, we are trying to manage as much as possible with all the players,” said Rohit Sharma in the pre-match press conference.
“So yeah, I think it is important that guys here get an opportunity to play against West Indies. We look forward to that challenge,” concluded Sharma.
India squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan
West Indies squad:
Nicholas Pooran (c & wk), Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Odean Smith, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh, Akeal Hosein, Keemo Paul, Shamarh Brooks, Dominic Drakes, Devon Thomas
