India vs Windies: CWI announces Andre Russell's replacement for the T20I series

After losing the Test and ODI series on the tour, Windies were expecting to put up a much better performance in the T20I series. But they were severely jolted with Andre Russell, their best T20 player, ruling out of the series due to the knee injury. He missed the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) for the same reason and has failed to recover in time for this tour as well. However, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has named Shai Hope as his replacement hoping that he replicates his ODI form in the T20Is.

Shai Hope might well play in the series opener given the fact that he has already spent a lot of time in the country and has got hold of the conditions. He was also amongst runs in the recently concluded ODI series scoring 250 runs at an impressive average of 62.50. Having said that, his strike-rate of 82 is worrying for the shortest format but Hope is capable of playing big shots and if he plays, it will be a big advantage for the visitors.

New look Indian side

India, on the other hand, are trying their fringe players in this series. Krunal Pandya is likely to make his international debut for this series and if conditions allow, even Khaleel Ahmed might appear in the T20Is for the first time. Rohit Sharma is set to lead not for the first time this year in Virat Kohli’s absence.

MS Dhoni is also not the part of the team and Rishabh Pant will most probably don the gloves in this game. With Dinesh Karthik also in the 12-man squad announced the other day, it will be interesting to see who will be benched in this game. Yuzvendra Chahal might be the unlucky bowler to make way with the dew set to play its part during the match.

After the series opener, the action will shift to Lucknow and Chennai as Windies long tour will be concluded on November 11.

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