Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first in the fourth T20 International of the five-match series against West Indies at Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
India currently leads the series 2-1, while West Indies aims to win the game to force a decider in the final match at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Speaking at the toss, Iyer confirmed that India would retain the same playing XI as in the third T20I. “We are going to bowl first. That’s one of the major reasons – the relaid surface. We have played on such wickets before. There is going to be bounce as well because the surface is very hard. We know how destructive West Indies are, so we cannot get complacent. The emotions we maintained throughout the last match (a 14-run win while defending 223) was good. Same team,” he said.
West Indies captain Shai Hope stated, “We would have fielded as well. It’s a must-win game, so we need to pull this one back. We need to give a foundation, just being clear about how we want to go. We have to wait and see, looks good. Needs to be open-minded. Two changes for us – (Kamil) Pooran and Sampson are out, Romario (Shepherd) and Jewel Andrew are in.”
The playing XI for India is Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, and Mayank Yadav.
West Indies announced the following XI: Shai Hope (wicketkeeper/captain), Jewel Andrew, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Keemo Paul, Shamar Springer, Gudakesh Motie, and Shamar Joseph.