India vs Windies | Krunal Pandya finds a place in India's 12 as Umesh Yadav misses out for Kolkata T20I

India vs Windies | Krunal Pandya finds a place in India's 12 as Umesh Yadav misses out for Kolkata T20I

India may see the elder of the Pandya brothers making his debut for India as Krunal Pandya has been picked in the team for the first T20I in Kolkata. Khaleel Ahmed has also found a spot in the 12-man team and can get a go to make his T20I debut if India decide to go with three pacers in the team.

Krunal was in the Indian squad for India's three-match T20I series in EnglandĀ but failed to make it to the final XI as India played two spinners in the form of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. However, as the caravan has reached India and the captaincy has changed so the team may opt for all-round Krunal's left-arm spin to go with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep and Chahal.

However, if India decide to go without Chahal, who looked out of sorts in the ODI series against Windies, it may allow all three pacers to be a part of the squad and two players will make their debut.Ā 

As far as batting is concerned, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma will continue to Open for India with Rishabh Pant following them at No. 3 - a spot Virat Kohli vacated in England to accommodate KL Rahul. Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik will be a part of the middle-order as Shreyas Iyer, despite his good performances, misses out from the first 12. Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Washington Sundar have also been left out of the squad.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal

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