1st T20I: West Indies win toss, opt to bowl first against India

Tarouba (Trinidad), July 29

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the first T20I of the five-match series at Brian Lara Stadium, here on Friday. Alzarri Joseph is making his T20I debut for West Indies while Shimron Hetmyer, who was not part of the ODIs returned back into the team, for this game.

"Going to bowl first. Maybe there's something in the pitch. Nice to know what you're chasing. Looking forward to this series. We enjoy the format. We like to entertain. One spinner. Alzarri Joseph making his debut. Shimron Hetmyer back into the team," said Pooran at the toss.

On the other hand, many regular Indian players including captain Rohit Sharma returned to the visitors side, after being rested for the ODIs.

"Ready to go. Good to have some time off. Pretty excited to get back and get things underway. First international game being played here, good to see the fans coming in large numbers. Facility looks good. Will have to look at how the wicket plays. Few guys have left, few have come back. Quite excited to get underway," said Rohit.

Playing XI:

India : Rohit Sharma(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh

West Indies : Shamarh Brooks, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Nicholas Pooran(w/c), Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul

--IANS