India vs West Indies 1st T20I: Rohit Sharma returns as skipper as Men in Blue look to maintain winning run

An upbeat Indian team will hope to carry their winning momentum from the ODI series over to the shortest format as the T20I leg of their tour of the West Indies commences at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.

After winning the battle of nerves in consecutive high-scoring thrillers, the Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian team completed a 3-0 sweep of the ODI series with a clinical 119-run victory in a rain-affected fixture on Wednesday.

Dhawan, however, will be stepping aside from the captaincy role in the T20Is, handing it back to all-format captain Rohit Sharma, who returns to action along with several other first-choice players for the 20-over leg.

Additionally, Rishabh Pant returns to action for the first time since his heroic, match-winning ton in Manchester that secured an ODI series victory for the Men in Blue and concluded their England tour on a happy note. With Dhawan's tour of the West Indies having come to an end, Pant is expected to return to the top of the order as Rohit's opening partner, leaving a spot in the middle order for fellow gloveman and proven finisher Dinesh Karthik, who will have to make each and every opportunity count if he is to book his ticket for Australia later this year.

The middle-order will also be bolstered by all-rounder Hardik Pandya's return to action for the first time since the England tour, as well as by the in-form Axar Patel, who aced the role of a finisher in the second ODI and is expected to slot into the T20I XI in place of Ravindra Jadeja, whose fitness is still under scanner.

As for the bowling department, fans and experts are still wondering about Arshdeep Singh's continued exclusion from the XI despite being one of the standout performers in this year's IPL and impressing in his only international appearance so far — in the first T20I against England. With Bhuvneshwar leading the attack, the team management will have to choose between Arshdeep and Avesh Khan, who was a little wayward in the one-dayers.

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