India is set to take on West Indies in the first T20I of the five-match series on August 03 at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. West Indies captain Rovman Powell has won the toss and chosen to bat first. Excitingly, India has awarded debut caps to seamer Mukesh Kumar and batter Tilak Varma for this opening game.
Tilak Varma’s introduction to international cricket comes after some remarkable performances in the Indian Premier League. He gained attention during his debut season in the IPL in 2022, where he scored an impressive 397 runs in 14 innings and emerged as the second-highest run-scorer for Mumbai Indians. In the recent 2023 season, Varma added another 343 runs from 11 innings, maintaining an average of 42.87 with one fifty. His hard-hitting ability to take on spinners somewhat makes him special in modern-day cricket. This 20-year-old young batsman is just starting his International career and he will be looking to mark an impact of the most of this opportunity.
On the other side, Mukesh Kumar will also be making his T20I debut, following his earlier debuts in ODI and Test formats during this ongoing tour. Remarkably, the 29-year-old has become the second player ever to debut in all three formats on the same tour. T. Natarajan, the left-arm pace bowler who did tremendously well during India’s historic tour to Australia in 2020-21, is the only one to achieve this milestone. Mukesh Kumar will be eager to make a mark as he adds the T20I cap to his collection, representing India on the international stage.
