India and West Indies will begin their five-match T20I series at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday, with both teams looking to gain an upper hand early in the series. Both teams are carrying needed confidence into the series, having done well in their past assignments. India head into the series after clinching the ODI leg 2-1, but West Indies showed great fightback in the series, saving their best for the final ODI, in which they secured a convincing five-wicket win to claim a consolation win.

Though the shift from ODIs to T20Is will present a different challenge, West Indies, having shown their potential in the ODIs, will look to challenge India in the shortest format. India have also made a few changes to their squad, with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul not part of the team. Notably, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have retired from T20Is and Tests, keeping themselves available only in ODIs. Meanwhile, India's confidence has been boosted by their gold-medal victory at the 2026 Asian Games, defeating Pakistan in the final.

For India in this series, all eyes will be on Abhishek Sharma, who has been in scorching form. He came out with remarkable performances during India's recent T20I series against Afghanistan, where he also fired a breathtaking century from 30 balls. That knock had also made him the fastest T20I centurion from a batter representing a Test-playing nation. He continued that rich run in the Asian Games final against Pakistan, slamming 61 from 28 balls.

Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and captain Shreyas Iyer will be other players who will be expected to play a key role in the team’s performance. West Indies, on the other hand, may have lost the ODI series, but their victory in the final match will definitely have given them great confidence, which they would look to take advantage of in the ODIs. 

Head-to-head

Matches - 31

IND won - 20

WI won - 10

No result - 1

India possible XI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh

West Indies possible XI: Shai Hope (c&wk), Amir Jangoo, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase, Romario Sherpherd, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Matthew Forde, Shamar Joseph