Sports

West Indies win toss, opt to field against India

West Indies win toss, opt to field against India

By REUTERS

West Indies Chris Gayle (left) and Dwayne Bravo celebrate after Gayle took the wicket of South Africa's Rilee Rossouw World Twenty20 cricket tournament in Nagpur, India, on March 25, 2016. Photo: Reuters

MUMBAI: West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to field in the second semi-final of the World Twenty20 against India as both former champions made two changes to their teams for Thursday's clash at the Wankhede Stadium. Both reached the last four after winning three out of four matches in the Super 10 stage of the tournament, and are vying for a place in the title clash against England at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Sunday. West Indies, the 2012 champions, lost Andre Fletcher to a hamstring injury during their final Super 10 match against Afghanistan in Nagpur. Lendl Simmons replaces Fletcher, while hard-hitting opening batsman Chris Gayle returns in place of Evin Lewis after being rested against Afghanistan. India, the inaugural champions of the tournament in 2007, were also forced to make a change after all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was ruled out with an ankle injury he suffered during their last match against Australia. Under-performing opener Shikhar Dhawan was also dropped after scoring one, six, 23 and 13 in his four innings in the tournament. Local boy Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey, who replaced Yuvraj in the squad, came into the team as the two changes for the hosts. Pandey, the first batsman from his country to smash a century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition, has played only four one-day internationals and a couple of T20 internationals.