Manchester: India won the toss and elected to bat first against West Indies in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup at Old Trafford on Thursday.
After the toss, India skipper Virat Kohli said, "We have two wrist-spinners, and hopefully a few rough patches for them to exploit. I think of shot-selection and bit more application when they are set (for the team)."
On the other hand, West Indies skipper Jason Holder said, "We would have liked to have bowled too, but if the pitch will do anything, it will probably be first up." The venue and the opposition hold a special place in Indian fans' hearts as, during the 1983 edition, India beat West Indies in its opening match at Old Trafford on June 9.
Kapil Dev's devils went onto defeat the Caribbean side in the World Cup finals at Lord's on June 25.
Now 36 years later, the Virat Kohli-led side will meet the West Indies as an unbeaten team in the tournament so far.
India have won four matches out of five fixtures with one getting washed out. While the Caribbean side has hardly lived up to its expectations, having won just one match out of six fixtures.
Following are the playing XI:
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Shai Hope (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder (c), Carlos Brathwaite, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Sunil Ambris, Fabian Allen
Both the teams possess players who have the ability to take their team over the line single-handedly. It will be interesting to see whether the match turns out to be a thrilling clash.
