Washington Sundar finishes things off with a six. A four-wicket win for India and they go 1-0 up in this three-match T20I series.
Narine is back for his final over. Two runs from the over. Narine's done: two for 14 from his four . Cottrell back into the attack. He gets the big fish now: Kohli is deceived by lack of pace on that occasion. India five down. Ravindra Jadeja comes to the crease. Cottrell follows up with the wicket delivery with two wides. Jadeja's away with a brace. IND 73/5 after 14 overs.
GONE ! Pandey loses his off-stump and Keemo Paul bags a wicket. Krunal Pandya comes to the crease. Pandya's off the mark with a single. Six runs from the over. IND 66/4 after 12 overs. India need 30 runs in 48 balls
Oshane Thomas back into the attack. Glorious off-drive from Pandey to greet Thomas. Four singles from the remaining five deliveries. Eight from the over. Carlos Brathwaite is greeted by Kohli with a powerful slice over backward point for four. Eight from this as well. IND 60/3 after 11 overs.
Keemo Paul comes into the attack. SHOT! Pandey welcomes him with a drive down the ground for four. Eight runs from the over. India needs 55 runs in 72 balls. Narine into his third. Brilliant from the experienced spinner. Just three from it. IND 44/3 after 9 overs.
Narine to continue. Kohli gets off strike with a single. GONE ! Rohit holes out to Kieron Pollard at long-on. Eighth time Narine has got rid of Rohit. Rishabh Pant at 4. GONE ! An irresponsible shot sees the back of Pant, who departs for a golden duck. Manish Pandey to face the hat-trick ball. He opens his account with a single. Two runs and two wickets from that over. IND 33/3 after 7 overs.
Cottrell will continue. Kohli whips it through mid-wicket for a single. Rohit dismisses a short of a length ball over the top for four. SIX ! Majestic hitting from Sharma, who creams it over the off-side for a maximum. A dot to end the over. 11 from the over. IND 31/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Sunil Narine into the attack. Rohit leans on the backfoot and punches the short ball between cover point and backward point for four. Seven runs from his first over. IND 20/1 after 5 overs.
Cottrell to continue. Excellent from the left-armpacer. Bowling full and getting a hint of inward movement into the right-hander. Just two from it. IND 13/1 after 4 overs.
SIX! Short ball from Thomas and Rohit collects a maximum off a pull shot. Good comeback fro the bowler. Just one run from the remaining four balls. IND 11/1 after 3 overs.
Cottrell to share the new ball. Two dots followed by a wide. Another brace of dots followed by yet another wide. GONE! Dhawan's been trapped in front and Windies have the early breakthrough. Kohli in at 3. IND 4/1 after 2 overs.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to begin the chase. Oshane Thomas with the new ball. Rohit opens the account with a quick single. A single for Dhawan too. Rohit has a go at an away going delivery - swing and a miss. Dot to finish the over. IND 2/0 after 1 over.
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Navdeep Saini has a dream debut with the ball. He picks up three which includes a wicket maiden in the last over, restricting Windies to 95/9. Pollard top scored with 49 but the Caribbean lads never quite got going. India needs 96 to win and go 1-0 up.
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Saini to bowl the final over with Pollard on 49. He starts with a dot ball. Excellent from the debutant: another dot ball. Make that three in three. Wait? India have reviewed for a lbw against Pollard. Three reds and that's the end of Pollard. Saini picks up his third. Brilliant from Pant, who convinced Kohli to go for the review there. Wicket maiden to end the innings. Top stuff from Saini.
Bhuvi for his final over. WICKET! Keemo Paul's out caught first ball. Cottrell joins Pollard. Pollard pulls a short ball for another maximum. He moves to 48 with that shot. 49 now with a single. Seven runs from it. WI 95/8 after 19 overs.
Bhuvi is back into the attack. Eight runs from the over with Pollard getting a much-needed boundary. Saini returns into the attack. 10 runs from his over - Pollard tonking a full toss for six. WI 88/7 after 18 overs.
GONE! J addu gets rid of Narine. A short ball and Narine has mistimed that pull shot and in the end, holes out in the deep. Keemo Paul joins Pollard as Jaddu slips in a wicket maiden. WI 70/7 after 16 overs.
GONE! Brathwaite combusts. The pressure takes a toll as the Windies skipper hits one straight back to Krunal. Sunil Narine in at 7. Five runs from the over. WI 70/6 after 15 overs.
Krunal into his third. SIX! Pollard's accelerating now, effortlessly flicks one over deep midwicket for six. Nine from the 13th over. Now just two runs from Jaddu's third over. India rushing through its overs. WI 65/5 after 14 overs.
Krunal continues. Very well bowled by the Vadodara all-rounder. Maiden from him. SIX! Pollard shimmies down the track and launches Jadeja for a maximum. 50 comes up for the Windies. Nine runs from the Jaddu over. WI 54/5 after 12 overs.
Jaddu now into the attack. Great start from the all-rounder. Just two runs from it. Pollard trying to absorb all the pressure, playing the waiting game at the moment. How long before he explodes? WI 45/5 after 10 overs.
Krunal Pandya has been brought into the attack. Six runs from the over with Pollard getting a streaky boundary. They need plenty more of those, do the Windies. WI 43/5 after 9 overs.
Khaleel continues. Three singles from the over. The wicket, as was pointed out by Darren Ganga before the start of play, is on the slower side and the Indian bowlers have adjusted well by taking the pace off the ball. WI 37/5 after 8 overs.
Carlos Brathwaite joins Pollard. Saini to continue. What will Pollard's approach be? He decides to see off Saini's second over. Credit to the youngster for not bowling in Pollard's arc. Just one run from the over. WI 34/5 after 7 overs.
Khaleel to bowl the final over of the Powerplay. First runs for Powell and it comes courtesy a boundary. Khaleel goes short and wide and pays the price. GONE! They're falling like nine pins, are the Windies. Pant takes a fine catch diving forward as Khaleel gets Powell out cheaply. WI 33/5 after 6 overs.
Debutant Saini to have a crack in the Powerplay. Pooran will be on strike. Starts with a 142 kmph delivery. WHAM! Pooran hammers Saini for a huge six. That went straight down the ground. Good comeback from Saini though, shortens the length next ball. GONE! Saini has the last laugh : gets his debut T20I wicket as Pooran miscues the pull to Rishabh Pant. Hetmyer joins Pollard. GONE! Dream debut for Saini as he gets Hetmyer to chop on. Two in two. WI 28/4 in 5 overs.
Bhuvi to bowl his second. Pollard on strike. Straightaway walks down the pitch to throw Bhuvi off his length. He gets off the mark with a brace. Excellent from the experienced seamer... keeping it short and not allowing Pollard to get under the ball. Five dots in the over. WI 22/2 after 4 overs.
Sundar to continue. Pooran greets him with a pull for four. Meanwhile, Pollard's walked out at 4. Pooran follows it up with the first six of the match - the ball sails over long-off. That went a long way as well: 85 metres. 12 runs from the over; a good one for the Windies. WI 20/2 after 3 overs.
Bhuvi to share the new ball. Slip for him as well. Pooran steps out and has a wild swing - misses. Bhuvneshwar strays in line, bowls a wide next ball. GONE! Lewis has been cleaned up by Bhuvi... that was the knuckle ball and the batsman's been done in by lack of pace on that occasion. WI 8/2 after 2 overs.
John Campbell and Evin Lewis to open the innings for West Indies. Washington Sundar to open the bowling. A slip in place for him. GONE! Sundar strikes in his first over, and Campbell is caught in the deep by Krunal Pandya. Nicholas Pooran joins Lewis. WI 6/1 after 1 over.
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TOSS UPDATE| India wins toss and elects to bowl. Chahar brothers, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have been left out.
Jason Mohammed, Kharry Piere and Anthony Bramble have been left out of the Windies squad.
India playing XI: Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Pandey, Pant, Krunal, Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar, Washington, Khaleel, Saini
West Indies XI : Campbell, Lewis, Pooran, Hetmyer, Pollard, Powell, Brathwaite, Narine, Cottrell, Paul, Thomas
Virat Kohli: We will bowl first. This wicket has been under covers so there might be a bit of moisture and it's gonna get flatter with more sun on it. It is always good to get on the park. Teams have moved on, first few days were difficult when the tournament was going on. But you accept it and life goes on. We are pretty fine now, had a good exciting fielding session the day before and everyone is excited to take the field now.
Carlos Brathwaite: We would have bowled first too because of the same reasons. There might be a bit in it for the first few overs. We have to see that tough period out and have enough wickets for the back-end of the innings. We are building, looking forward to the T20 World Cup. Hopefully, we will peak in the T20 World Cup obviously with the emphasis of winning each series.
PITCH REPORT| Darren Ganga: "Teams tend to bat first on this pitch. Since 2010, we have had eight T20 matches at the venue with an average first-innings score of 166 but more recently, its been 180. There's some moisture in the surface; there could be lateral movement and the pitch may get slower as the day progresses, bringing the spinners into play."
Viv Richards : "Rishabh Pant's got big shoes to fill. M.S. Dhoni has done some amazing things for India but Pant's an exciting talent. His inclusion means fresher legs and a cleaner thought process."
Bright and sunny in Florida as the teams warm up ahead of the first T20I. Viv Richards feels the Windies will be at ease in the T20 format, where they've two World titles.
Ajay Jadeja: "It'll be interesting to see India's approach in the absence of M.S. Dhoni. With him around, we have seen a certain style of cricket from this team where they hold the innings together at the top and then turn to Dhoni to finish it on a high. But with him not around, I expect them to put up a different brand of cricket."
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India’s Rohit Sharma will surpass Chris Gayle to take the lead among batsmen with the most number of sixes in Twenty20 Internationals if he hits four sixes in the first of two T20Is against West Indies here on Saturday| Rohit Sharma needs four sixes to surpass Chris Gayle
India captain Virat Kohli feels the T20I series against West Indies is a great platform to try out fresh talent looking at the ICC World T20 tournament in 2020| 'Every time we woke up, it was the worst feeling in the morning'
India will be expected to beat the West Indies though they are most dangerous in the shortest format.
Match Preview:
Back on the road following their unfulfilled World Cup campaign, India will begin their preparations for the T20 showpiece event next year with a three-match series against the West Indies beginning in Lauderhill on Saturday.
As captain Virat Kohli pointed out before leaving for the Caribbean tour, the main objective of the T20s and the subsequent ODI series against the West Indies is to try out the fringe players who are on selectors’ mind.
Kohli was expected to be rested for the limited-overs leg of the tour but a full strength squad has been picked barring the absence of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah who will join the side ahead of the Test series beginning August 22. All-rounder Hardik Pandya has been rested for the entire tour.
It will be a crucial couple of weeks for Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, who are back in the mix after being sidelined from India’s 50-over World Cup plans.
Pandey last played for India in November 2019 and Iyer in February 2018.
With India looking to solidify their brittle middle-order in ODIs, both batsmen have a good opportunity to make their case in the coming six games.
Both Pandey and Iyer, who were part of the recently-concluded A series in the Caribbean, come into the senior team with runs under their belt.
Spin all-rounder Washington Sundar and pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar are also back in the T20 squad while speedster Navdeep Saini and Deepak’s brother Rahul are in line to make their India debut.
With Rohit Sharma and a fit-again Shikhar Dhawan set to open, the number four spot seems likely to be occupied by K L Rahul, who has fond memories of the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, having scored an unbeaten 110 in his last innings here almost three years ago.
Rohit was top-scorer in the World Cup, with a record five hundreds, and would be keen to carry that form amid the off-field drama of a speculated rift with Kohli, who has categorically denied any differences with his deputy.
From this tour onwards, Rishabh Pant will have more responsibility on his shoulders with the selectors backing him as the number one wicketkeeper in all formats amid little clarity over the future of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India will be expected to beat the West Indies though they are most dangerous in the shortest format.
The explosive Kieron Pollard and spinner Sunil Narine are back in the side though Chris Gayle will only be seen in the ODIs. Injury-prone Andre Russell too has been named in the T20 squad.
The regional side will be aiming to get over the disappointment of World Cup with a good result against India.
Coach Floyd Reifer expects the series to be high on entertainment.
“The team is young, and we like to mix the experienced players with the youth. We have a very good blend. We are looking forward to the matches here in Florida. It should be a very exciting weekend, we lots of entertainment for the fans,” Reifer said ahead of the series.
Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the T20I between India and the West Indies in Florida.
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