The series will be treated as a trial for the upcoming World T20 as the Indian captain has already clarified that this is the format which allows the management to experiment with young talents. At the same time, he is not too worried about the rankings, however, he would be looking to improve it to boost the side's confidence.
Windies, on the other hand, will be looking to gather their confidence back as they enter the battle after 2-1 T20I series defeat against Afghanistan.
Toss Update:
India have won the toss and they will be bowling first. They have benched Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey for today's clash.
“We're going to bowl first. There will be dew in 45 mins to one hour. It's a good wicket to bat on, and it's going to get better to bat with the ball coming on nicely. Chasing has been better for us to be honest. The data has to be taken into account, particularly when you win the toss, which is uncontrollable. Shami and Bhuvi come back into the squad. Bhuvi has done well in this ground to be honest. At the international level, we tend to overcomplicate, and it's important to maintain the IPL mindset,” said Virat Kohli at the toss.
On the other hand, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Fabian Allen and Nicholas Pooran miss out for West Indies.
“The toss is 50-50, so we can't really control it. We just need to bat really well. It's important to ignore the outside noise, try to do the right things on the field and come out on top. We have a few young guys who have done well in the CPL. You don't want to put extra pressure on them, just do really well and express themselves in terms of their skills and fielding,” said Kieron Pollard at the toss.
Here are the playing XIs:
West Indies: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard(c), Denesh Ramdin(w), Jason Holder, Hayden Walsh, Sheldon Cottrell, Kesrick Williams, Khary Pierre
India: Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal