WI vs IND: India arrive in Trinidad ahead of ODIs

After a successful tour of England this month, India will next tour West Indies for three ODIs and five T20Is, starting on July 22. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, the 50-over team will be led by Shikhar Dhawan as the makeshift skipper in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Team India posted a short video on social media of the team, anchored by Dhawan, entering the hotel on July 20, Wednesday. Other Indian players such as Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were seen entering the premise with their bags and luggage.

Other senior players such as Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, who featured in the England tour, have been rested for the ODIs against West Indies, and the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli will be absent for the entire tour.

India have gone with a young pace bowling pack in Siraj, Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur for the ODIs. Dhawan is expected to open with Ruturaj Gaikwad or Kishan, followed by a middle-order pack of Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav.

The only specialist spinner in the squad is Chahal, along with spin bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Deepak Hooda. Meanwhile, the Chief Selector of West Indies, Desmond Haynes, gave an update about their senior all-rounder Jason Holder. Haynes believes that Holder would be “refreshed and re-energised”, and he will show his brilliance on the field again.

“As we all know Jason is one of the leading all-round cricketers in the world, and we’re happy to have him back in the team,” Haynes said in a release. “He will be refreshed, re-energized and ready to go and we can expect to see his brilliance on the field as well as meaningful contributions off the field as well.”

The home team, led by Nicholas Pooran, will be raring to bounce back from a recent 3-0 defeat in the home ODI series to Bangladesh.