Ind vs WI, 1st T20I: Hosts to bowl first, Bishnoi making his debut

Kolkata: India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first against West Indies in the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

The Men in Blue handed spinner Ravi Bishnoi his T20I debut and he received his maiden cap from fellow spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

At the time of the toss, India skipper Rohit said: “Looks like we are going to bowl first here. I don’t want to comment on the pitch as it has played differently every time. We have to prepare ourselves with one eye on Australia. We have to keep ticking the boxes. They are going to challenge us. We are playing with five batters, one all-rounder, and two spinners, Ravi Bishnoi is making his debut.”

On the other hand, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said: ” The toss is 50-50. We try to stay in the present. Jason Holder got hit during practice yesterday and hence he misses out.”

Earlier, West Indies had suffered a 0-3 defeat in the ODI series against India.

In the three ODIs, West Indies batting left a lot to be desired and the side failed to put up a substantial score. The top-order always collapsed and it was the lower-order that came to the rescue, but that was not enough as the team from the Caribbean lost all three ODIs against India.

Playing XI: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal Ravi Bishnoi.

West Indies: Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase, Kieron Pollard (c), Fabien Allen, Romario Shephard, Odean Smith, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell.

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