West Indies touched down in India this week to open a demanding white-ball tour, with captain Shai Hope leading a squad that blends senior campaigners with fresh faces ahead of the first of three ODIs in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27, 2026. The tour, which runs across eight cities and includes three ODIs and five T20 Internationals, is Cricket West Indies’ most extensive assignment in India in several years. The scale of the tour, spanning both white-ball formats and stretching from late September into mid-October, gives selectors an unusually long window to assess squad depth ahead of the next ICC white-ball cycle.
Squads built around continuity
Cricket West Indies named largely settled squads for both formats, retaining the core group of players who featured in the recent home series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The ODI squad includes Shai Hope as captain alongside Jewel Andrew, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Gudakesh Motie, while the T20I group brings in power-hitters Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd. Fast bowlers Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales headline an attack that selectors hope can trouble India’s batting order on used, slower surfaces typical of the late-season Indian white-ball calendar.
Campbell returns after injury scare
Opening batter John Campbell returns to the ODI setup after missing the final two matches of the home series against New Zealand due to a hamstring injury. His return adds experience at the top of the order for a squad that must quickly adjust to Indian conditions across three ODI venues before the T20I leg begins. Team management has indicated Campbell will resume his opening role alongside Keacy Carty, giving the top order a settled look after injury forced changes during the home series against New Zealand earlier this year.
Kamil Pooran’s breakthrough
The standout inclusion is 20-year-old opening batter Kamil Pooran, who earns his maiden West Indies call-up for the five-match T20I series in October after an impressive Caribbean Premier League campaign in which he scored 273 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 159.64 and an average of 39. Selectors have pointed to his form as exactly the kind of white-ball impact West Indies have lacked at the top of the order in recent series, and his call-up has been widely welcomed by regional commentators as a reward for domestic performance translating directly to international selection. Pooran will not feature in the ODI leg but is expected to be assessed closely during the T20I matches in October, with selectors keen to see whether his CPL form translates against international-standard bowling on Indian pitches.
Contrasting views on squad balance
Not every observer is convinced the squad strikes the right balance. Some regional pundits have argued that West Indies’ T20I middle order remains too reliant on power-hitting without enough recognized finishers against high-quality spin on Indian surfaces, pointing to previous tours where the same template struggled in the middle overs. Others within the Caribbean cricket media have pushed back, arguing that with Hetmyer, Powell, Pooran and Shepherd all in form, the squad has more genuine depth than in recent years and deserves to be judged on results rather than reputation. Hope himself has said publicly that he wants the squad to focus on adaptability across conditions rather than relying on a single game plan, a message team management has repeated in pre-tour briefings.
The itinerary ahead
The squad departed the Caribbean on September 21 and arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on September 23 to begin acclimatizing ahead of the opening ODI on September 27, with the second ODI following in Guwahati on September 30. The five T20Is are scheduled to run from early October through October 18, taking the tourists across eight different Indian cities in total.
What it means for both sides
For West Indies, a strong showing in India would be a significant marker of progress after a mixed run of recent white-ball results, and would offer selectors clarity on whether Pooran and other emerging players are ready for a bigger role heading into the next ICC white-ball cycle. For India, the series offers a chance to test squad depth in home conditions before a busier international calendar later in the year. Both boards will be watching closely how the newer faces on the West Indies side, particularly Pooran, cope with the step up from franchise cricket to full international duty. Results from the opening ODI in Thiruvananthapuram onward will shape the narrative heading into the T20I leg, where Cricket West Indies hopes a settled top order and an in-form pace attack can convert a promising squad on paper into results on the field.
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