New Chandigarh: Anshul Kamboj has been handed an ODI debut while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Mohammed Siraj return to India’s playing eleven as captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bat first against the West Indies at the New PCA Stadium on Saturday.
India have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-game series and a win on Saturday will help them get a 3-0 series triumph. Kamboj had joined the team on Friday after being pulled out of India A’s second four-day game against Australia A in Puducherry, as Prasidh Krishna was ruled out due to a left hamstring injury sustained in Guwahati.
Nitish and Siraj replace Ravindra Jadeja and Auqib Nabi in the playing eleven. “Beautiful surface, going to be a good wicket to bat on. Our batting has been good, bowling has been a concern at times.
“We need to keep trying and be better. 15-20 runs make a huge difference. I think the more we play, it is better as our bowling is inexperienced. That will make a huge difference for us,” said Gill, who won the toss for third straight time.
West Indies captain Shai Hope said he hopes his team are more consistent with the bat here. The visitors have made three changes:- Jewel Andrew, Matthew Forde and Gudakesh Motie come into the playing eleven in place of Keacy Carty, Roston Chase and Shamar Joseph.
“I just want to be consistent with the bat. I thought we’ve been playing some really good cricket in the batting side of things. It’s just about being a little bit better with the ball and executing more on our plans. But just on that, you just got to look at the positives, got to make sure that we’re building on that and then find ways to improve the weaknesses.”
Quizzed on the exposure and development of the young players in the team touring India for the first time, Hope said, “It’s really good. When you come to India, you want to play against the best teams in the world and they really embraced it. I can see that the effort they fight and it’s good to see they’re learning a lot in the short space of time. So hopefully they can continue to grow as strong cricketers.”
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Gurnoor Brar
West Indies: John Campbell, Jewel Andrew, Shai Hope, Amir Jangoo, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Matthew Forde, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales, and Vitel Lawes
(IANS)
