TEAMS
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik(w), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal
Windies (Playing XI): Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin(w), Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Fabian Allen, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Oshane Thomas
TOSS: West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite wins toss, opts to bat against India
PITCH REPORT
"Slightly sticky texture in the soil on this track. The dew won't kick in much over here. The Windies will have to lift their game. A rather flat track here in Chennai despite the sticky-looking texture, and it's very likely to be a fantastic wicket for batting. Expect a high-scoring game here at Chennai." - Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Kartik
PREVIEW
When BCCI drew up the fixtures for the West Indies series, they probably had a post-Diwali dhamaka in mind at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. West Indies are the T20 world champions and one would have hoped that the venue would play host to a final-like atmosphere between a group of players who have played a huge role in making the Indian Premier League what it is today.
But sadly, barring Kieron Pollard and an off-colour Carlos Brathwaite, none of the IPL superstars turned up for the series and by the time the cricket caravan reached the city of Indian T20 champions, it was all done and dusted.
With India wrapping it up easily in Lucknow, there’s hardly any motivation left for Rohit Sharma’s boys and the team didn’t have a single practice session before the game - in fact, most of the team members reached the city late on Saturday evening.
“We have already won the series, (so) how does it even matter whether we look at the pitch or not,” a source close to the team management said.
Not that West Indies are keen to make an impression either. Their Test specialists have arrived here for preparation of the Bangladesh series in a week’s time and the focus of the entire team is around that tour.
“We are disappointed we couldn’t adapt well. In T20s we need momentum and partnerships, and we couldn’t do that,” West Indies wicketkeeper batsman Denesh Ramdin said on the eve of the match.
The only ones remotely interested in Sunday’s fare is probably the cricket fans in the city. There was huge disappointment when Chennai Super Kings had to shift base to Pune due to political unrest and it’s been a while that top stars have played here. Yes, they would have loved MS Dhoni in action — in fact, he was in Chennai on Thursday to attend a meeting of India Cements. But the Jharkhand bomber isn’t part of the national T20 set-up anymore.
Still, there were frequent queries for tickets and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association bosses suggested that it could be a full-house - barring the three stands of course that stay closed due to environmental issues.
And the fans would hope that once the ball rolls on Sunday, the players would forget that it’s a dead rubber and give it their 100 per cent.
While Rohit, who is on a roll, would love to build on the superb T20 form that he has been of late, this could well be a chance for the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar to show that they can make a mark before leaving for Australia.
Medium-pacer Siddarth Kaul, who was called up after Jaspreet Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were given rest, would also like to show that he is up for the job.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2Qxh67q
