Toss West Indies opt to bat v India
For the first time in the white-ball leg of India’s tour of the USA and West Indies, Virat Kohli lost the toss. He was asked to field first by West Indies captain Jason Holder. The hosts need a win to level the ODI series 1-1.
Despite showers expected later in the day, Holder backed his decision to bat first in Port-of-Spain. While announcing two changes that will bolster their batting, Holder said the team needed to bat as a collective.
“It’s a good opportunity for the batsman to have a good bat,” Holder said. “We try not to play the weather, need to focus on ourselves. We’ve done some talking, now it’s time for execution. Told the boys to take it as deep as possible. I try to take responsibility too, but we need to play as a collection. Sheldon Cottrell’s out with an illness, while Oshane Thomas has been rested. Keemo Paul and Fabian Allen are in.”
Kohli was not opposed to chasing, announcing one change to the team that won the second ODI. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav makes way for legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, getting a game in India’s final white-ball match of the tour. Kohli also stressed that the team was looking to “plug” a few concerns, especially on the field.
“Not a bad thing, we have most often done what we wanted to do when we win the toss. Sometimes you are put up against what you want, but it’s a good chance to play on a pitch that may be challenging. We just spoke about how we sort of lost our way after drinks breaks, while batting and fielding. Sometimes you can make those mistakes during the breaks, and that brings the opposition back into the game.”
West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Fabian Allen, 10 Keemo Paul, 11 Kemar Roach
India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal (ESPNCricinfo)
