But lack of action forced India to relinquish top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings to Pakistan, less than a week after taking over the position from Australia. “How can a team be judged and ranked at the top unless it plays equal number of home and away matches”.
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India and West Indies are teams packed with some major stars, and when these two sides feature in the highly-entertaining T20 format, it is going to be a brilliant contest.
“It has allowed me to transition easier from just being told [about the captaincy] to the excitement of wanting to get on the field and lead”, said Brathwaite during a press conference after the fourth Test against India in Port of Spain. About the shift that we need to make from Test cricket to T20, the West Indies players may not have to do that because some of them are coming straight from the CPL.
West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles (wk), Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons.
Indian coach Anil Kumble was, however, still optimistic about a good performance in what will be his first assignment with Dhoni. Stepping into the U.S. for the first time as the Indian cricket team.
“I would say in limited overs format, the West Indies are extraordinary”. If we play five bowlers then you know the top order can bat freely and will not play in pressure.
Brathwaite was announced as the new captain shortly after Sammy disclosed through a Facebook post that he was dropped after leading West Indies to two World T20 titles. We know that expats and the huge Indian diaspora want quality cricket to come to the USA.
Rain halted play on the first day of the Test after West Indies had reached 62 for two wickets and no further play was possible over the next four days despite periods of sunshine. They are the current World T20 champions. I dont think its a case where I have to negotiate too many egos, he said. They lost the first Test by an innings and 92 runs inside four days and the third Test by 237 runs.
Dhoni is aware that West Indies have batsmen that can turn any game in a trice.
The last time the two teams met in a T20 contest was during the T20 World Cup semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai last March, when the Caribbean side spectacularly chased down 193 to win in the last over.
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India: MS Dhoni (capt, wk), R Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
