Cricket West Indies selection panel on Thursday named two squads for ODI and T20I series in India in December.
While Carribean star Andre Russell failed to make a cut in any of the two squads, Fabien Allen has recovered from his knee injury and as a result, he has got a place in the T20I squad.
West Indies will face India in three T20Is in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai on December 6,8 and 11, respectively. The two teams will then meet in three ODIs in Chennai, Vizag and Cuttack on December 15,18 and 22.
The West Indies selectors have backed the players who recently played against Afghanistan in Lucknow.
“We have three matches in each format, so we wanted to give each squad a chance to compete against India. No disrespect to Afghanistan, but facing India will be more difficult,” West Indies head coach Phil Simmons said in an official statement.
Notably, West Indies won the ODI series against Afghanistan 3-0, whereas they lost the T20Is 2-1.
“The T20Is will give them (West Indies) chance to play and develop, and again, with no disrespect to Afghanistan, this (India) should be a stronger T20 opposition and we will see how they perform against India,” said Simmons.
“The next World T20 Cup is in Australia (2020) and the one after that is here in India (2021), so there is a lot of preparation to be done. We have given the players here a chance in this series and we know we have players outside who may be coming in later on as well, so it’s good to give those who are here another opportunity,” the coach added.
Here are the squads:
T20 Internationals: Kieron Pollard (captain), Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Khary Pierre, Denesh Ramdin, Sherfane Rutherford, Lendl Simmons, Hayden Walsh jr, Kesrick Williams
ODIs: Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope, Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh jr