Hardik Pandya: India vs West first T20I in Trinidad will be historic as team India will be playing their 200th T20I after playing their first match against South Africa in December 2006. Hardik Pandya will be leading a young side and hope to start the five-match T20 series on a positive note. With no Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the Pandya-led young side will be aiming to play fearless cricket.
Under Hardik, India are yet to lose a T20 series, and against West Indies, the all-rounder would be aiming to maintain that record. The T20 squad sees players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma Mukesh Kumar, and Arshdeep Singh. With the T20 World Cup set to be played next year in June, the West Indies series will be ideal preparation for players.
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Hardik Pandya: Pandya-led young India squad aim to deliver first punch
Pandya has led India in 11 T20Is, and India has won 8 of them. This will be Pandya’s second overseas as captain in T20Is. The first one was against New Zealand, and the all-rounder tied the two-match T20 series 1-1. Against West Indies, the junior Pandya will fancy his chances to win the series. However, the task won’t be easier as India are in a transition phase in T20Is.
With no senior players like Rohit, Kohli, KL Rahul, and Bumrah, the young players will have a huge task in hand to stand up and deliver performances of note. Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel have placed bets on Jaiswal, Varma, Mukesh Kumar, and Arshdeep Singh. Only Arshdeep has played T20I, while the rest of the three players have yet to make their India debut in the shortest format of the game.
Mukesh and Jaiswal are coming off a good Test and ODI series against Windies. Jaiswal only featured in Test and had a terrific start to his career. Varma has been chosen for the T20I team on the back of his splendid performance in IPL 2023 for MI. The southpaw scored 343 runs in 11 games at a strike rate of 164.
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