Timing: 19:30, Saturday 27 August
Channel: Star Sports 1
Live streaming: Hotstar
Check out the live updates here
Teams (from):
India: MS Dhoni (C), A Rahane, A Mishra, B Kumar, J Bumrah, KL Rahul, M Shami, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, R Sharma, S Dhawan, S Binny, U Yadav, V Kohli
West Indies: C Brathwaite (C), A Fletcher, A Russell, C Gayle, D Bravo, E Lewis, J Holder, J Charles, K Pollard, L Simmons, M Samuels, S Badree, S Narine
Head to head:
Played: 5; West Indies: 3; India: 2
Did you know?
The last time the two teams met in a T20 International was the ICC World T20 semifinal in Mumbai on March 31, which the Caribbeans won by seven wickets
Match Preview
India's two T20I wins against the West Indies came in Trinidad in 2011 (16 runs) and Dhaka in 2014 (7 wickets)
Cricket will seek to reach out to the untapped American market when India lock horns with the West Indies in their maiden international game in the US here on Saturday. The two Twenty20 Internationals over the weekend will be the first instance of India being involved in a competitive match in the USA. Days after India cruised to victory in the four-match Test series for their third successive triumph on the Caribbean soil, the team's seasoned campaigner Mahendra Singh Dhoni will return to lead the side in the two limited overs games at the Central Broward Regional Park, the only purpose-built cricket stadium in the US.
It is the only ICC certified ODI standard stadium facility in the USA and hosted six Caribbean Premier League matches last month. The 14-member Indian team will see the return of as many as 11 regular players who were rested from the tour to Zimbabwe in May earlier this year. Dhoni is scheduled to play just seven more matches in 2016 – two T20Is against the West Indies in USA and 5 ODIs against New Zealand in India. Dhoni's last assignment was against Zimbabwe, where he led a young Indian team, sans the stars, to victory in both the ODIs and T20I series in Harare in June.
The two-match series is going to be the first of what will develop into an annual event in the USA as part of efforts to reach out to new markets and audiences. Even though India won the Test series 2-0, players from the Test squad are coming with hardly any recent match practice because of the rain-affected fourth Test in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, where the last four days didn't see any play.
Indian coach Anil Kumble was, however, still optimistic about a good performance in what will be his first assignment with Dhoni.
As far as the West Indies team is concerned, the focus will be on Carlos Brathwaite, who was elevated to captaincy in place of Darren Sammy. They may be the reigning world champions in the format, having triumphed in India earlier this year, but that didn't save Sammy's job as skipper.
Brathwaite, on the other hand, etched his name into West Indies cricket folklore by smashing four sixes in the final over against England to win this year's World T20 final for his team in Kolkata.
“I think a team like this will be pretty easy to lead, from the point of view that the dressing room is a fun place to be,” said Brathwaite. “I don't think it's a case where I have to negotiate too many egos.”
But despite his heroics in Mumbai, the 28-year-old Brathwaite is yet to become a force to reckon with when it comes to international experience, having played just three Tests, 14 ODIs and eight Twenty 20s.
India have no issues on the confidence front heading into the weekend. They have enjoyed a solid run in the T20 series in recent times, winning in Australia, Sri Lanka and claiming the Asia Cup before recovering to beat Zimbabwe 2-1.
Twelve of the Test players will be in Florida with Test skipper Virat Kohli handing over the leadership duties to Dhoni. They will have revenge on their minds having lost to the West Indies in the semifinals of this year's World Twenty20 in Mumbai.
A crowd of 15,000 is expected in Florida over each of the two days including vast numbers of expatriates. –PTI
