With the three-match T20 series already lost, West Indies head into the final contest at the National Stadium, Providence with Fabian Allen replacing Kharry Pierre.
Allen a 24-year-old Jamaican, has only played nine T20 matches capturing eight wickets at an economy rate of seven from his left arm orthodox bowling.
In batting he has a strike rate of 115.
Allen, who was recently handed a white-ball contract from Cricket West Indies, has been in Guyana ahead of the squad practicing at the Providence Stadium extensively with both Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams and Mervyn Dillon, the former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies speedster.
Interim Head Coach, Floyd Reifer noted that the series has not gone their way but said that he was content with the bowling.
“Not the results that we wanted but we are building the team. I thought that the second game we played we put up a better showing unfortunately the rain came at a time that it did and I think we were in a good position to charge those last four overs…we had a lot of positives going forward. I thought the bowlers bowled well,” he added .
Reifer also highlighted the efforts of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Sheldon Cottrell in the series so far.
With an eye on the T20 World Cup where West Indies will be expected to defend their title, Reifer confirmed that there will be an exploration of some of the other talent apart from the main performers. Wth the Caribbean Premier League quickly approaching, he believes some new talent can emerge.
The hosts are currently on a five-match losing streak, a feat they have achieved four times in the past but they often tend to break that streak on the sixth attempt.
History is on their side as they have won their two contests at the venue handsomely when they played nine years ago.
Even with their reputation of being big hitters, West Indies have failed to cross the 100-run mark in their last four outings and could opt to strengthen their batting for today’s game.
Sunil Narine was promoted to open the batting and will be familiar with the conditions at Providence, having turned out for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL previously.
A lot will depend on the homesters in the explosive Shimron Hetmyer who had a dream run with the bat during last season’s CPL along with homeboys, Anthony Bramble and Keemo Paul.
Questions were asked about the batting order with Hetmyer batting at five and six but he might most likely be promoted today.
Jason Mohammed, who replaced Andre Russell could find himself in the playing XI with his familiarity with the Providence pitch and his ability to build an innings.
Most notably known for hitting four consecutive sixes in the World T20 final, skipper Carlos Brathwaite averages 15 after 40 matches at a strike rate of a pedestrian 112 and a best of 37 not out while with the ball, he has an economy rate of 8.5 with 31 wickets.
India are yet to play a match at Providence and only a few players opted to get some batting practice yesterday.
Washington Sundar and KL Rahul have both been in the nets and could likely feature today with the inclusion of Shreyas Iyer and Rahul Chahar.
The first ball bowls off at 10.30 hours.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Rahul Chahar
West Indies: John Campbell, Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran, Anthony Bramble (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Jason Mohammed.
