Toss India opt to bat v West Indies
Virat Kohli won a second straight toss on tour as an unchanged India elected to bat in the second T20I in Lauderhill.
West Indies, meanwhile, left out opener John Campbell, with Carlos Brathwaite, the captain, confirming Sunil Narine will be promoted to open the batting along with Evin Lewis. This meant an opportunity for left-arm spinner Khary Pierre, who was the Player of the Match in the 2018 CPL final.
“It looks like a pretty okay wicket, all the moisture from yesterday morning is gone. The pitch will get slower and slower as the game progresses,” Kohli reasoned.
“It’s important to assess the pitch as the ball gets older. With the new ball it was coming on decently, with the old ball, it was a little sluggish. We need to assess the conditions well.”
Brathwaite was happy to bowl first, effectively meaning both captains got what they wanted. “It looks a better wicket. I still think there’ll be some moisture,” he said. “It won’t change over the course of the 20 overs. Also bowling first will give us some time to assess.
He also said the message to his side was a simple one, in the aftermath of a sub-100 score in the first T20. “Different players score in different areas, but the message is: ‘be positive. Make smarter decisions.’ We don’t want to change it too much,” he said. “We need to put in a similar performance in the field like yesterday and improve on our batting.”
India are 1-0 up in the series, and a win on Sunday will give them an unassailable lead going into the final T20I in Guyana on Tuesday.
West Indies: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Carlos Brathwaite (capt), 8 Khary Pierre, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Oshane Thomas, 11 Sheldon Cottrell
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Navdeep Saini