West Indies announces 16-member squad for T20I series against India and New Zealand

West Indies men's senior selection panel has announced on Thursday a 16-men squad for the T2OI series against India and the upcoming T2OI series against New Zealand. West Indies will be hosting India for a 5-match T2OI series starting from Friday, July 29. The games are scheduled to be played in Trinidad, St Kitts, and Florida.

West Indies lost the recently concluded ODI series against India 3-0. The T2OI series will run until August 7. The same WI squad will then travel to Jamaica to host New Zealand for the T2OI series. The 3-match series will be played from August 10 to August 14. New Zealand recently defeated Ireland in the T2OIs and are currently playing Scotland in a 3-match T2OI series.

"We welcome back Hetmyer and it is good to see him again in West Indies colors. He will fortify the batting group and with his experience and adaptability we have a 'finisher' who can add value and win matches for the team and delight the supporters," said Chief Selector, Desmond Haynes in CWI's official statement.

"Everything we do, we have to take into consideration we have a big tournament coming up later this year, which is the ICC T2O World Cup, so we are planning and gearing up towards that event. It is good to give the players some exposure to the international stage and look to find the right combinations, " Haynes added.

WI SQUAD : Nicholas Pooran (c), Rovman Powell (vc), Shamarh Brooks, Dominic Drakes, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr. 

India have already announced for the series with skipper Rohit Sharma returning to the team after missing the ODI series. 

IND SQUAD : Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh 

West Indies after a disappointing result in the ODI series will look to make a statement through their performances in the T2OI series, a format in which they look more comfortable and threatening On the other hand, the visitors will try to imprint a similar effort in the T2OI series as they did against England.

T2OI series :
1st T2OI - July 29, Trinidad 
2nd T2OI - August 1, St Kitts 
3rd T20I - August 2, St Kitts 
4th T20I - August 6, Florida 
5th T20I - August 7, Florida