Kolkata, Feb 15 (Agency) With focus on the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which is exactly eight months away, the Rohit Sharma-led India will look to get its combinations in place when it takes on West Indies in a three-match series starting February 16. During the last showpiece event, India were the pre-tournament favourites but made a shocking group stage exit in the UAE. The performance exposed the team’s loopholes, which Rohit wants to bridge. “We’re trying to address holes in our squad and we’ll do that.
Lot of players are young, so we can’t keep experimenting. We need to give them game time. Once we’ve that, then we’ll try experiments,” said Rohit on the eve of first T20I. “Idea is to identify who’ll play World Cup and give them game time. Some players are injured and some are unavailable. For this series, just got to get everyone ready, injuries are bound to happen. We need to get the roles right here, this series is for that. Mindset needs to be bat, bowl in a fashion for World Cup. Clarity has been given to them now it’s up to them to get maximum results.” Meanwhile, West Indies will look to improve and fightback in their favourite 20-overs format. The Kieron Pollard-led side came to India after defeating England 3-2 in the five-match T20I series. Although they lost the ODI series to India 0-3, West Indies have the potential to bat deep with the big hitters in their line-up.
With all-round options like Odean Smith, Jason Holder and Akeal Hosein, West Indies would look to make the best of the series at the Eden Gardens where they won the T20 World Cup in 2016. India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (vc; wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav. West Indies squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr. The match starts at 7.30 PM IST.