A depleted India begin their tour of the Caribbean with a familiar format, playing a Twenty20 International against West Indies on Saturday at Queen's Park Oval. Bereft of a number of their star players, like World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, opener Virender Sehwag, and left-arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan, the visitors are still heavily favoured to topple their opponents.
All of their players were involved in the Indian Premier League, so the format should pose little or no trouble, neither should the conditions in the Caribbean, which are not so dissimilar to their homeland. "The Indian Cricket Board has been very kind to the players and have allowed them some rest and we must respect this," said stand-in India captain Suresh Raina.
"Those guys have been performing well for India for quite a long time, and they deserve a break. None of the West Indies' IPL stars have been included in their squad. Chris Gayle, the leading scorer in the competition, faces a meeting with the hierarchy of the selectors, West Indies management, and team management over his ill-starred radio interview last month.
Neither Kieron Pollard nor Dwayne Bravo, a member of the IPL-winning Chennai Super Kings, has been chosen because they did not play in the Caribbean T20 Championship, ruling them ineligible under the selection policy. Uncapped left-arm fast-medium bowler Krishmar Santokie is included in an otherwise hugely untested squad, which otherwise has no changes from the side that beat Pakistan last month in St. Lucia.
West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons India (from): Suresh Raina (captain), Harbhajan Singh (vice captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramaniam Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary Umpires: Norman Malcolm (WIS), Peter Nero (WIS)
TV umpire: Joel Wilson (WIS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
Reserve umpire: Gregory Brathwaite (WIS).
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