Bhuvi set for comeback as international cricket returns to Lucknow

India vs West Indies 2nd T20I: Lucknow, which is hosting its first international match at the newly-built Ekana Stadium, would be eager to see a more dominant performance from the home team, who would look to seal the series against the world champions Windies.

Bhuvenshwar Kumar is set to make a comeback as men's international cricket returns to Lucknow after 24 years for the 2^nd India vs West Indies T20I.

Bhuvneshwar, who was unavailable for selection in the first T20I because of a gastronomic disorder, has regained fitness and will replace Umesh Yadav in India’s playing XI. Bhuvi, Bumrah and Khaleel are certain to be India’s three seamers in Lucknow while leggie Yuzvedra Chahal may get a game in place of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.

Lucknow, which is hosting its first international match at the newly-built Ekana Stadium, would be eager to see a more dominant performance from the home team, who would look to seal the series against the world champions Windies.

The last international fixture played at Lucknow was an India vs Sri Lanka Test match way back in 1994. The city though did host a Women’s ODI in 2005.

"It won't be a high-scoring game for sure. The pitch has long dead grass on both sides with cracks in between. It will be a slow bouncing wicket and spinners are expected to play a big part from the beginning," the pitch curator told PTI.

"The pitch is made of soil exported from Odisha's Bolangir which is famous for its slow nature. Both the teams will find it difficult to score runs and hit big shots with long square boundaries," he added.

BCCI's chief curator Daljit Singh was in charge of the wicket here from the beginning and he prepared the pitch with the help of UPCA curators like Ravindra Chauhan, Shiv Kumar and Surendra.

Another curator who worked on the surface said had local soil been used to prepare the pitch, it would have been a run-fest on Tuesday. Besides the surface, another important factor which is expected to play spoilsport is dew.

The first T20 International of the three-match series at the Eden Gardens was also a low-scoring tie with West Indies managing just 109 for 8 after being sent into bat, a target which India chased down with five wickets in hand in 17.5 overs.

West Indies, on the other hand, would look to sort out their top order mess. They have failed to put up a decent score on the board in three matches in a row (adding the last two of the five-match ODI series). Attacking wicket-keeper batsman Nicolas Pooran can be a solution at the top of the order, considering the fact that the Windies T20 squad does not have a specialist opener in it.