India vs West Indies, First T20I: Preview, Predicted XI, Head-to-head stats, Live Streaming, Weather forecast, and Pitch report

After securing a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh in the historic Day-night Test in Kolkata, India’s caravan now shifts towards the final-leg of their limited-overs assignments in 2019. The Men in Blue will host West Indies in a three-match T20I series before closing out the year with another three-match ODI series.

The first match of the three-match T20I series will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on December 6th. With eyes on the T20 World Cup next year, India will want to use each game from hereon as an opportunity to figure out their best possible playing XI. Although the conditions will be in stark contrast to what will be on offer in Australia, it will give an idea on what some of the youngsters have to offer in this format.

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On the other hand, West Indies will aim to put together a strong performance against a full-strength India squad and improve their track record against the hosts in the T20Is. The visitors recently witnessed a change in captaincy in the T20I format and would also hope a quick change of their fortunes after a string of poor performances. It will be a tough ask for the West Indies, who have included some of their CPL stars to the national set-up. It might be an intimidating experience for some of the youngsters, who will be up against a dominating Indian force in front of jam-packed stadiums in India.

Here is all you need to know about the first T20I between India and West Indies.

Match Details:

Date: December 6, 2019 (Friday)

Time: 7:00 PM (IST)

Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

Weather Report

The weather is expected to stay clear for the entire evening in Hyderabad on Friday. There is a 7% probability of precipitation during the day time but it should not hamper the match proceedings at any time during the night. It will be slightly cooler in the night with a temperature expected to hit as low as 15°C.

Pitch Report

The pitch in Hyderabad is usually tailor-made for the batsman, especially in T20s. In the last edition of the IPL, the ground witnessed some of the highest scores in the entire league as flat tracks throughout the season made life miserable for the bowlers. The usual nature of the pitch tends to slow down in the second half as spinners come into play. All in all, it will be a good batting deck.

Head-to-head stats

Total matches played: 14

India: 8

West Indies: 5

No Result: 1

Probabale XI:

Selection for the first T20I should not be a major problem for India as most of the players pick themselves. Some of the players come on the back of successful domestic outings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, while others represented India in the Test series against Bangladesh. The only concern for India is the combination that they would want to opt for the Hyderabad T20I.

India predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

World T20 Champions West Indies hit the nets at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in HyderabadPreparations for the 1st T20I against @BCCI to be played on Friday night at the same venue2nd match: December 8 in Thiruvananthapuram 3rd match: December 11 at Wankhede#MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/yZMoYAghbj

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) December 3, 2019

West Indies will have quite a lot of questions to answer after their 2-1 defeat against Afghanistan in the T20I series in Lucknow. Nicolas Pooran, who will not be available for the first T20I, owing to his four-match ban, will be a huge miss for the visitors in the middle-order. Skipper Kieron Pollard will be a concerned man to get his best playing XI for the series opener against India.

West Indies predicted XI: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (C), Denesh Ramdi (wk), Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Kesrick Williams, Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh

Live Broadcast and streaming details

The T20I series will be broadcasted live on the Star Network, the official broadcast sponsor for India’s home matches. The coverage will run on Star Sports 1, Star Sports HD 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD. The match will also be live-streamed digitally on Hotstar.