India-West Indies T20I

In what can be called a watershed moment in Indian cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday (August 2) have given their approval for  the  Twenty20 International series in Florida  against West Indies cricket team. The series will have two T20 internationals which will be played on 27 and 28 August at Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA. The decision was taken at the board’s Working Committee meeting in Mumbai.

BCCI’s official twitter account confirmed the announcement:

“As part of our continuous efforts to reach out to new markets and audiences, I am very happy to announce that Team India will play two T20Is against the current world champions West Indies in the United States,” Anurag Thakur, the BCCI president said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“This will be a great opportunity for the cricket fans in America to watch the two champion sides in action. This will be developed into an annual cricketing event in the United States,” he added.

“This will be a great initiative in our continued efforts to develop cricket in the Americas (North and South America) a very important market,” said Whycliffe Dave Cameron,West Indies Cricket Board President.

The Indian team is currently in West Indies for the four-match Test series. The visitors have already won the first Test. In the second Test too, the Indian team is in a driver’s seat. After dismissing the hosts for only 196 runs, the Indian team have piled up a mammoth total of 500 runs for the loss of nine wickets declared. The Test series will end on August 22.

India’s last T20 match against their Caribbean hosts ended in a heartbreaking manner as they were eliminated from the World T20 after losing to West Indies in the semifinal. The team would look to make amends for the loss when the two teams meet in Florida .

Meanwhile, the series will give an opportunity to star players like MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh to make a comeback to the Indian team.

Dhoni retired from the longest format of the game in 2014. He was expected to don the Indian jersey again in October when Indian is scheduled to play an ODI series against new Zealand but the upcoming T20 series will give him a chance to stay in touch with the International cricket. Yuvraj Singh, who got injured during the World T20, is no more considered for Tests and with India playing only a few limited overs’ game in the coming months, he would like to impress the selectors during the T20 series.