West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the second Test of the two-game series at Queen’s Park Oval, here on Thursday.
Left-handed top-order batter Kirk McKenzie and right-arm seamer Mukesh Kumar are making their Test debuts for West Indies and India respectively. It is the 100th Test between West Indies and India, which coincides with Virat Kohli playing his 500th international match.
After winning the toss, Brathwaite said pacer Shannon Gabriel also comes back in the playing eleven, with no place for Raymon Reifer and Rahkeem Cornwall.
“Pitch has a bit of moisture which we want to use. We were decent bowling-wise, we need to continue being disciplined,” the West Indies captain said.
“We need to take the first game off our memories and play their quality bowlers well. Our rivalry has come a long way, we haven’t won a match in a while. It was always a joy to watch Brian Lara and Sachin back in the day. Need to give the fans more memories,” he added.
On the other hand, India captain Rohit Sharma said Mukesh comes into the playing eleven as Shardul Thakur has pulled up a groin niggle.
“We were looking to bat first. Nice and sunny as well. Pitch will get slower as the match goes on, so okay with batting first,” said Rohit.
“Lots of memories from the rivalry, especially our batters trying to put their hands up against great fast bowlers. Even now you have to work hard to get a result, especially the batters. Scoring isn’t easy. We got a lot of positives and hope to get the right result,” he added.
Pitch report done by the broadcasters said the 22 yards is firm with no grass on it and is expected to aid spinners hugely as the game progresses.
India have a 1-0 lead in the two-game series after winning the Dominica Test by an innings and 141 runs.
Playing XIs:
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar and Mohammed Siraj
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wicketkeeper), Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican and Shannon Gabriel
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