West Indies announce 15-member squad for ODI and T20I series against India
West Indies recently named their 15-member strong ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming series against India, which begins with the first T20I in Hyderabad. Kieron Pollard will continue to lead the team in both the formats and will be keen to make amends after a 2-1 series loss to Afghanistan earlier this month.
No changes in personnel have been made to the squad for the India tour, with Nicholas Pooran named as the vice-captain for the T20I format while Shai Hope will continue as the vice-captain for the 50-over format.
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The only two notable developments are the return to fitness for spin bowling all-rounder Fabian Allen and wicket-keeper batsman Denesh Ramdin, both of who will be keen on making an impression after missing out from a major chunk of the action against Afghanistan.
The T20I series will commence with the first match in Hyderabad on 6th November, with the second match set to be contested at Thiruvananthapuram on 8th December, before the final T20I is played in Mumbai on 11th December.
The ODI series, which also features three matches will be held across three cities namely Chennai (15th December), Visakhapatnam (18th December) and Cuttack (22nd December).
Here is the official squad announcement -
Head coach of WI Paul Simmons revealed how India could be a tough challenge to his side in the shorter formats.
We have three matches in each format, so we wanted to give each squad a chance to compete against India. No disrespect to Afghanistan, but facing India will be a more difficult series. Our players really got the hang of things, with the 3-0 series win in the ODIs [against Afghanistan], and I believe we will move from strength to strength.
Simmons also shed light on the need to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup next year in Australia, and back the current crop of players in the team.
In the T20s this will be another chance for them to play and develop, and again, with no disrespect to Afghanistan, this should be a stronger T20 country and we will look to see how they perform against India. The next ICC T20 World Cup is in Australia and the one after that is here in India so there is a lot of preparation to be done for first for Australia. We have given the players here a chance in this series and we know we have players outside who may be coming in later on as well, so it's good to give those here another opportunity.
West Indies T20I squad for India series: Kieron Pollard (C), Nicholas Pooran (VC), Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Denesh Ramdin, Sherfane Rutherford, Lendl Simmons, Hayden Walsh Jr, Kesrick Williams, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell.
West Indies ODI squad for India series: Kieron Pollard (C), Shai Hope (VC), Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr.