Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first against the West Indies in their World Cup encounter on Thursday at Old Trafford in Manchester.
India remains the only unbeaten side in the tournament so far after New Zealand suffered an unlikely defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the previous day's match in Birmingham. The Men in Blue would look to clinch their spot in the semifinals with a win over the West Indies.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's performance has been under the scanner following his inability to deliver in the Powerplay overs. Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also pointed out that there was “no positive intent” from Dhoni's side. All eyes will be on the ex-captain as Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri take a call on his position in the middle order.
West Indies go into the World Cup match against India with nothing to lose. They could, however, very well damage India's chances to effortlessly enter the semifinals of the World Cup and exit on a high.
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The West Indies bowling department has shown great potential and the batting duo of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer, along with Carlos Brathwaite, will be expected to pile the runs on for the team. Andre Russell has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury and Sunil Ambris will take his place.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant.
West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Ambris, Evin Lewis, Shannon Gabriel, Darren Bravo, Fabian Allen.
