The hosts India and the visiting side Windies are ready for the crucial second game of the three-match T20I series at Greenfield International Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram). The visiting side won the toss and decided to bowl first. While Windies made only one change in the squad, India have brought the unchanged playing XI.
India are leading this series by 1-0 after winning the first T20I of the series at Hyderabad on last Friday (6th December) night.
It is the must-win game for Windies to remain in the competition of winning this series. Meanwhile, India will secure this home series if they maintain their winning form.
India have won all the last seven T20Is against Windies. Windies won the last T20I against India at Kingston on 9th July 2017.
Coming back to the toss of the ongoing Thiruvananthapuram T20I, Windies captain Kieron Pollard decided to field first after winning the toss. He has made one change from the last playing XI – Nicholas Pooran has returned to the squad after completing his four-match ban and Denesh Ramdin has been dropped.
Pollard said, “We are gonna bowl first. If you look at it, we want to come out and have a feel of it. We need to restrict them to a low total. We can’t be critical on the batsmen, everytime you score 200, you win a game. Hopefully we come out and do things right today. We have some plans for the batsmen, we need to keep them from scoring. We need to execute our yorkers, we have been practising. Pressure is playing in front of thousands. One change, Pooran is back, Ramdin misses out.”
I think it should be a pretty good pitch to bat on during the first half – Indian captain Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, Indian captain Virat Kohli has confirmed that they are playing with the same playing XI.
Kohli said, “Not too bad, we would have bowled first as well, dew might be a factor. Toss is an uncontrollable. It’s a nice and hard pitch, much drier. I think it should be a pretty good pitch to bat on during the first half.
“It’s not a worry, we haven’t defended too many totals in the past. We might not have reacted well. It’s a mindset thing, it’s all about belief. Every game counts, we’ll try to do things that we have not done in the past, we’ll try to execute those. I learnt a lot from the last innings. That’s the biggest revelation for me – if you never give up, things can change. I am happy to contribute, it might not be your day everyday. It’s the same team we are playing with.”
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal
Windies playing XI: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Khary Pierre, Hayden Walsh, Sheldon Cottrell, Kesrick Williams