Windies won the toss and decided to bowl first against India in the second T20 International at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
Here is what the captains said-
Carlos Brathwaite: We will bowl first. This is a new stadium and we want to chase. Dew factor is also one of the reasons, we decided to bowl. We have one change in the team. Nicolas Poooran is in the team.
Rohit Sharma: We would have bowled first. There is grass on the pitch and I am hoping pitch will hold up. But I am not sure about the outfield as there is lot of dew. We have Bhuvi came in our team in place Umesh. It is good to have Buvi back but it is unfortunate for Umesh to miss only after 1 match but team composition is very important
Preview:
Contrary to the popular speculations, Windies did not quite manage to perform as per expectations in the series-opener. Asked to bat first, they never really looked in contention to post a decent total let along posting a big one. The visitors kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were eventually restricted for a modest 109 for 8.
Carlos Brathwaite and Co. did manage to make a game out of it by reducing India to 45 for 4. But with such a small total on the board, it was always going to be tough for the inexperienced visitors as India eventually crossed the line with much ease.
With momentum on their side, India will be looking to seal the series in Lucknow. On the other hand, Windies will be keen to bounce back and justify their World T20 champions tag.
Teams-
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik(w), Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, K Khaleel Ahmed
Windies (Playing XI): Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Fabian Allen, Khary Pierre, Oshane Thomas
