Cricket West Indies selection panel on Thursday named the two squads to face India in the One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals next month. The selectors have kept faith with the players who recently played against Afghanistan in Lucknow, India.
West Indies, the reigning ICC World T20 champions, will face India in three T20Is on December 6, 8 and 11. Following that series, the two teams will meet in three ODIs on December 15, 18 and 22.
Speaking on the squad selection, Head Coach Phil Simmons said: “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 added: “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 (2020) and the one after that is here in India (2021) 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.”
T20 Internationals: Kieron Pollard (captain), Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Khary Pierre, Denesh Ramdin, Sherfane Rutherford, Lendl Simmons, Hayden Walsh Jr. and Kesrick Williams.
One-Day Internationals: Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope, Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd and Hayden Walsh Jr.
MATCH SCHEDULE
December 6: 1st T20I – Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad
December 8: 2nd T20I – Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
December 11: 3rd T20I – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
December 15: 1st ODI – M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
December 18: 2nd ODI – Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam
December 22: 3rd ODI – Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
