India vs West Indies: Venues for 1st and 3rd T20I swapped

The venue for the first and third T20I of the upcoming India vs West Indies T20I series has been swapped. Now, the first T20I which was supposed to be held in the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, will now be played at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on December 6. The third T20I, on the other hand, will be hosted in Mumbai, confirmed BCCI on Wednesday.

The decision to swap the venues was taken after the Mumbai Police had expressed its inability to provide security as the city would be on a high alert on December 6, the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition and also the “Mahaparinirvan Din” of B R Ambedkar.

On that day, lakhs of Ambedkar followers throng the Chaityabhumi, his memorial at Dadar in Mumbai.

The last time Mumbai hosted an international match was against Sri Lanka, a T20I in December 2017.

West Indies are set to play three T20Is and as many ODIs against Virat Kohli’s India.

Complete schedule of India vs West Indies 2019

1st T20I: December 6 in Hyderabad

2nd T20I: December 8 in Thiruvananthapuram

3rd T20I: December 11 in Hyderabad

1st ODI: December 15 in Chennai

2nd ODI: December 18 in Visakhapatnam

3rd ODI: December 22 in Cuttack

India recently beat Bangladesh 2-1 in the three-match T20I and thrashed them 2-0 in the following Test series. India, however, won’t play any Test matches against West Indies, who are currently playing a one-off Test match against Afghanistan in Lucknow.

India received as blow for the T20I series in the form of opener Shikhar Dhawan, who was ruled out from the shortest format after sustaining an injury during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has been replaced by Sanju Samson, who like the Bangladesh series, will play as a specialist batsman.

India’s squad for 3 T20Is: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sanju Samson

India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar