India opt to bat, Kuldeep replaces Khaleel

India vs West Indies 2nd ODI: Virat Kohli wanted to put runs on the board on a pitch which considered to be hard and dry. India brought in Kuldeep Yadav in place of medium pacer Khaleel Ahmed.

Virat Kohli had no hesitation in opting to bat first after winning the toss in the 2nd ODI at Visakhapatnam and put runs on the board to put pressure on West Indies.

The bare pitch, which looks certain to assist the spinners and get slower as the game progresses played a key role in India opting to play three spinners. Kuldeep Yadav, who surprisingly did not feature in the first ODI which India won by 8 wickets in Guwahati, comes in place of young Khaleel Ahmed, who might consider himself hard done by after having a decent enough outing in his last game.

"It gives us two wrist spinners in the middle overs and ask the batsmen to come hard at us," is how Indian captain Virat Kohli justified the selection of Kuldeep in place of Khaleel. 

Kohli also stresses on the slow nature of the pitch and pointed out the need to put a good score on the board. "Looks like a nice and hard wicket. May be it will get slower in the second half. Because of our bowling combination, we want to put up a score on the board and ask them to chase it down."

All eyes will be on the Indian captain when he walks out to bat as anticipations that he would become the fastest to reach the 10000 run miletone in ODI cricket by some distant. Kohli is 81 runs shy of the mark.

The West Indies, on the other hand, have handed debut to Obed McCoy in place of tall fast bowler Oshane Thomas.

Interestingly, Holder had a different opinion about the pitch on offer. "Seems to be a good track. It should hold up for the 100 overs. Looks drier than the last pitch and I just hope that it stays together. It would be for the batters to take it deep," Holder said.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w), Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal

Windies (Playing XI): Kieran Powell, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope(w), Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder(c), Ashley Nurse, Devendra Bishoo, Kemar Roach, Obed McCoy