INTERNATIONAL cricket returns to Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad tomorrow in the first One Day International between India and the Windies. The two teams will go head-to-head to capture the inaugural Seagrams Royal Stag Mega Cricket Cup.
The home team recently finished a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Saint Lucia which ended 1-1 with the final match being abandoned due to persistent rain. Prior to the three ODIs, the Windies defeated the Afghans 3-0 in the Twenty20I series that was played in Saint Kitts.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian team will be eager to redeem themselves following their whipping at the hands of archrivals Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy at The Oval in England, losing by a mammoth 180 runs.
The Windies and India have played 116 ODIs between 1979 and 2015, with the visitors winning 53, losing 60, tied 1 and there were 2 no results.
Meanwhile, the Selection Panel of Cricket West Indies has named an unchanged 13-man squad for the first and second matches of the ODI series. Pacer Shannon Gabriel has not been included in the squad as he is undergoing rehabilitation for an injury.
The Windies squad for the first two ODIs are: Jason Holder (captain), DevendraBishoo, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell and Kesrick Williams.
The India squad reads: ViratKohli (captain), ShikharDhawan, Rishabh Pant, AjinkyaRahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, KedarJadhav, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, RavindraJadeja, Mohammad Shamo, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dinesh Karthik and Kuldeep Yadav.
The second ODI is scheduled for this Sunday at the QPO, the 3rd ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on June 30, the 4th ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on July 2 and the 5th ODI at Sabina Park on July 6. The lone T20I is scheduled for July 9 at Sabina Park.
