Powell and Windies...

FROM BACK PAGE or me, as the captain, to ask players to miss the leagues so that we can stay in the Caribbean and spend time together.

“It is something that is not feasible, but when we do get together, the little time that we have together, we have got to cherish it and see if we can mould together as one faster… But the guys are in a good frame of mind for this series. India is always a team that the guys want to play against, and want to do well against, so that in itself is a positive for us.”

Bowling appears to be the strength of both sides, but batting may very well unlock the outcome of this match and the third T20I to be played at the same venue on Tuesday because the pitch typically plays low and slow.

Powell said the surface looked like it could be better than the strip they played on in the first match, but the proof of this will come on the day.

“It seems a little bit better, and hopefully when we come (on Sunday) we do conclude it is a better pitch,” he said. “It’s a very important game, and the guys are very upbeat about our chances of beating India.

“If we can go 2-0 up, the pressure will totally be on India, and it will just be up to us to close out the series, but we are not looking too far ahead. This is a very important game, so hopefully we can do some good stuff.

“Complacency is the furthest thing from our minds. India is 1-0 down, and we expect them to come hard, but if we can find ourselves with a 2-0 lead, that will be very, very important.”

The last time West Indies beat India in successive T20Is was seven years ago when they followed up a seven-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian city of Mumbai with a onerun score at the Central Broward Regional Park in the United States four months later.

Two of the last five T20Is at the Guyana National Stadium were washed out, and the totals of the team batting first in the three completed matches were 146, 157, and 163, with the chasing team winning twice.

Squads: WEST INDIES

(from): Rovman Powell (captain), Kyle Mayers (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas.

INDIA (from): Hardik Pandya (captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Umran Malik.

Dukes owner pledges to investigate controversial ball change during Oval Test

…He also suggested it was unlikely that the ball might have been part of the 2018 or 2019 batches of Dukes, which offered more for seam bowlers

THE owner of Dukes has pledged to investigate the controversial ball change in Australia's second innings during their 49-run defeat in the fifth men's Ashes Test at The Oval, while casting doubt on a theory that a five-year-old replacement ball might have been used.

The ball was changed in the 37th over of Australia's chase, after Usman Khawaja was hit on the helmet by a Mark Wood bouncer. Khawaja said after Australia's defeat that he had immedi- ately queried the choice of replacement ball - which looked visibly newer than the previous one - with umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, labelled the choice of replacement ball "a huge blunder that needs to be investigated" while Zak Crawley, the England opener, described it as "a good break for us [which] probably made the difference".

Dilip Jajodia, the owner of British Cricket Limited, the company which manu - factures the Dukes ball, told Code Sports: "I'm going to investigate myself, because it affects me … my name is at stake so it's important they don't mis allege something wrong with the ball."

Code Sports reported that "whispers have emanated out of the English camp" since the conclusion of the Test suggesting that the ball might have been part of the 2018 or 2019 batches of Dukes, which offered more for seam bowlers, though Jajodia suggested that was unlikely.

"I can't imagine they would risk putting a ball in there with a different date on it," Jajodia said. "Frankly the match referee should be on top of it. We do bang that number in quite hard, so even if the gold comes off, the ball is imprinted. It wouldn't be easy to get rid of it. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not likely."

Ponting was among those who questioned whether a sufficiently broad range of balls had been presented to the umpires to choose a replacement ball. But Jajodia explained that his company supplies balls directly to venues rather than to the ECB or the ICC.

"On this particular occasion, the balls would be done by Surrey," he said.

"Surrey get the supply of balls from us before the season starts and then they start knocking them in, getting them into wear and tear… in my view, they're probably not doing it that accurately." (Cricinfo.com)