Big Picture – The Sooryavanshi question
Samson had a below-par time in Japan, but is likely to retain his place after back-to-back fifties in the T20Is against Afghanistan. Abhishek is expected to be a lock in, and that could mean Sooryavanshi will have to wait for his opportunity. The rest of the middle order is likely to feature the usual suspects in Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
West Indies, on the other hand, will hope to carry some of the momentum from the third ODI into the T20I series. They have brought in a few power-packed reinforcements for the T20Is in the form of Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd and will want to create a few dents over the next couple of weeks.
India WWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
West Indies LLWLL
In the spotlight – Ishan Kishan and Shimron Hetmyer
Team news: Mayank or Prince; Kuldeep or Bishnoi?
India (probable XI): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mayank Yadav/Prince Yadav, 11 Arshdeep Singh
West Indies (probable XI): 1 Shai Hope (capt, wk), 2 Kamil Pooran, 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Rovman Powell, 5 Sherfane Rutherford, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Shamar Springer, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Gudakesh Motie, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Matthew Forde
Pitch No. 5, that is the centre pitch, will be in play for the Lucknow T20I. It is a mix-soil pitch – a mixture of a red and black soil. Runs came thick and fast in Lucknow during IPL 2026, and expect much of the same come Tuesday. There has been some rain around the city, which affected the practice session of both teams on Monday. There is, however, no rain forecast on match day.
“Five T20s mean that if you’re playing in every one, the opposition can plan better for you each time. So it always about trying to stay one step ahead of the batter. Trying to be as clever as possible and just trying to get the job done for the team. I think that’s my general game plan.”
Akeal Hosein on bowling in the powerplay against hard-hitting India line-up
