New Delhi:
India has chosen to bowl against West Indies in Providence, Guyana. The match has been reduced to 43 overs per side after rain interrupted the toss and wet outfield forced a delay of close to two hours. Shikhar Dhawan makes a comeback in the format where he has been India's third best player after skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma. With 17 hundreds in 130 ODIs, Dhawan will rightfully take his place at the top of the order alongside Rohit and like the initial matches of the World Cup, KL Rahul is likely to go back to being the number four batsman. With Kedar Jadhav expected to come in at No 5 or 6 depending on how Rishabh Pant is used as a floater, it will be a toss up between Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer for the remaining middle-order slots. (LIVE SCORECARD)
00:50 hrs IST: Bad news for all the cricket fans, the match has been abandoned
23:25 hrs IST: Rain stops play again
23:10 hrs IST: After 12 overs, WINDIES are 50/1 with Lewis and Hope at crease
23:00 hrs IST: OUT! Kuldeep Yadav scalps Chris Gayle's wicket
22:55 hrs IST: SIX! by Lewis to Khaleel
22:52 hrs IST: After 7 overs, West Indies is 18 for no loss with Lewis and Gayle out in the middle
22:50 hrs IST: First SIX of the Windies innings by Lewis to Bhuvneshwar
22:45 hrs IST: With the end of 6 overs, WINDIES are 9 for no loss
22:40 hrs IST: The match has been reduced to 34 overs each and will resume in 5 minutes.
22:00 hrs IST: The groundstaff need more time to get the ground ready and the players are walking off the field. More overs likely to lose
21:49 hrs IST: Match has been reduced to 40 overs. The game is all set to begin shortly.
21:41 hrs IST: The sun is out and the rain has stopped. We might lose a couple of overs more. Reckon we may have this kind of stop-start day.
21:28 hrs IST: Rain stops play in Guyana, WI is 9/0 after 5.4 overs
21:25 hrs IST: Shami and Bhuvneshwar are making it for the Windies openers, WI is 8/0 after 4 overs
21:20 hrs IST: Just four runs off the 4th over, Windies are 7/0 with Gayle and Lewis at crease
21:15 hrs IST: After 3 overs, West Indies are 3 for no loss
21:09 hrs IST: Bhuvneshwar Kumar begins with a maiden over while Mohammed Shami concedes two runs. Chris Gayle gets off the mark in his 299th ODI. West Indies are 2/0 after two overs.
20:38 hrs IST: No KL Rahul, Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal in the Indian side. Here are the playing XIs of both the teams.
West Indies: Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shai Hope(w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Kemar Roach
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, K Khaleel Ahmed
20:34 hrs IST: India has chosen to bowl against West Indies. Chris Gayle returns to the side. No Keemo Paul and Oshane Thomas.
20:25 hrs IST: The toss will take place in 10 minutes. The match has been reduced to 43 overs a side. Let us hope that the rain stays away.
20:06 hrs IST: The rain is easing out and the sun is coming out. We might have the toss shortly. Only the main pitch is covered.
19:51 hrs IST: Bad news. It has started to rain in Providence Guyana and the covers are coming back on. This puts the start time back even further.
19:27 hrs IST: The sun is out in Guyana and the covers have been peeled off. The rest of the outfield is being drained for the excess water.
19:02 hrs IST: The weather is clearing up and the groundstaff are getting to work. The ground drains well luckily so we might have a match albeit it might be truncated.
18:54 hrs IST: The covers remain in place. It continues to rain. We are still some time away before we start losing overs.
18:31 hrs IST: The live visuals from Providence do not pain a pretty picture. The outfield is wet and there are massive puddles of water. The covers are firmly in place. We might have to wait for a while here one feels. The weather forecast was for scattered thunderstorms throughout the day.
18:27 hrs IST: We may have to wait a bit for the match. It is pouring in Guyana at the moment and the toss has been delayed. But luckily, the ground drains well.
18:19 hrs IST: For West Indies, they will be hoping that the Universe Boss, Chris Gayle, decides to produce magic in the ODIs. He was not part of the Twenty20 squad and West Indies suffered. He is on the cusp of breaking plenty of ODI records for West Indies.
17:58 hrs IST: It is the first ODI for the Indian cricket team ever since the heartbreak of July 9 in Manchester when Virat Kohli's side suffered an 18-run loss to New Zealand in the semi-final. All the planning, all the execution, all the hopes of four years came crashing down after the loss. Now, they have to start all over again and it begins with the West Indies ODI in Providence Guyana.
