KOLKATA: Sans the towering presence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma will lead an Indian team brimming with confidence against the West Indies in the first of the three T20 Internationals here at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Though India's supremacy in Tests and ODIs proved unquestionable in the current home series against tourists West Indies with 2-0 and 3-1 win respectively, the home side is likely to face a new order of challenges in the T20 series. The picturesque Eden Gardens at dusk normally become a dangerous turf and unpredictable for any side in the world due to dew condition, bits of winds from Ganga and cries of over 66,000 spectators are enough to make any batsman stand steadily before a rushing bowler and fielders around green surface.
The tourists may like this atmosphere for blasting cricket and bat freely to follow the path as they broke the trails two years ago here when their men and women roped home the world championship.
Currently, India won the Test series ( 2-0) against the Caribbeans easily, but after the one-sided Test series, the visitors surprised the host's competitiveness in the white ball game.
They won one and forced a tie in the five (3-1) ODIs. What was supposed to be an irrelevant and unmatched affair, turned out to be a hard-fought and nerve-racking affair until the third ODI.
The first of the three T20s at Eden where the BCCI selectors announced a 16-member squad against the West Indies, which took the fans by storm as stumper and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not considered. Apart from him, Virat Kohli has been rested for the series.
However, it is hoped that India would like to grab early honours in the shortest version of the game. Besides Eden Gardens, India will host the Caribbeans at Lucknow and Chennai on November 6 and 11.
After a dominating performance in the fourth ODI, India and West Indies locked horns in Thiruvananthapuram for the final ODI.
West Indies had one last chance to salvage something out of the tour as they had a chance to level the ODI series.
Skipper Jason Holder won the toss and decided to bat first.
But it never looked like West Indies' day as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah took a wicket each in the first two overs to immediately put the visitors on the back foot.
It never looked like West Indies was going to make any sort of a comeback as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. But full credit goes to the Indian bowlers who were disciplined throughout the innings.