India vs West Indies, 1st ODI: Toss result and playing XIs for today's match, umpires list and pitch report
India will take on West Indies at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday in the first ODI of the three-match series. On expected lines, the visitors dominated the Test series and but for rain look set to clinch the two-match series by a 2-0 margin. The focus, though, now shifts firmly to white ball cricket.
The three-match ODI rubber will be significant for the Men in Blue keeping the World Cup in mind, which will be played in India later in the later. As skipper Rohit Sharma himself admitted at the pre-match press conference, the games against West Indies present a good opportunity for the think tank to test out some of the newer players.
For the West Indies, it will be quite a bizarre feeling. Once a dominant force in world cricket, they haven’t even qualified for the ODI World Cup this year - a first in the game’s history. The hosts need to rebuild and the series against India is a good opportunity for them to start from scratch.
Today's IND vs WI toss result
India have won the toss and opted to bowl first.
“We are going field first, no particular reason. We are going to try a few different things,” Rohit Sharma said.
With Mohammed Siraj being rested for the series, Mukesh Kumar has been handed his ODI debut.
IND vs WI - Today's match playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (w), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.
West Indies: Shai Hope (c & wk), Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Dominic Drakes, Jayden Seales, Gudakesh Motie.
Today's IND vs WI pitch report
Samuel Badree and Shakera Selman state that while the surface in Barbados is generally dry, this pitch might have a bit of spongy bounce. As for the dimensions, the square boundaries are around 65 meters, and the straight boundaries around 70 meters. The average score on this ground is 236.
Today's IND vs WI match players list
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad.
West Indies squad: Shai Hope (c & wk), Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Alick Athanaze, Rovman Powell, Keacy Carty, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Oshane Thomas, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Dominic Drakes, Yannic Cariah.
IND vs WI - Today's match umpires
On-field umpires: Michael Gough, Nigel Duguid
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus
Match Referee: Richie Richardson