Harshal Patel unavailable for selection till third T20I of West Indies series, BCCI shares details

"Harshal Patel has a rib injury and is unavailable for selection for the 2nd and 3rd T20I. He is being monitored by the BCCI medical team," BCCI tweeted.

India medium pacer Harshal Patel has been ruled out of the second and third T20I against West Indies due to a rib injury, confirmed BCCI on Monday. "Harshal Patel has a rib injury and is unavailable for selection for the 2nd and 3rd T20I. He is being monitored by the BCCI medical team," BCCI tweeted after the toss of the second ODI in Saint Kitts. Harshal hadn't featured in the series opener in Trinidad a couple of days ago. India had picked leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in that game which paid rich dividends as the spinners ruled to give India a huge 68-run win and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

India's Harshal Patel (Action Images via Reuters)

Bishnoi, however, made way for pacer Avesh Khan as India went in with a more balanced bowling attack comprising three specialist seamers and two spin-bowling options. Hardik Pandya, can of course, come into bowl if needed.

There was no shortage of drama even before the match had started. The match had to be delayed by three hours as luggae of some off the players hadn't arrived on time from Trinidad to Saint Kitts.

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and opted to bowl first. Devon Thomas and Obed McCoy replaced Shamarh Brooks and Keemo Paul respectively for West Indies.

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh

West Indies XI: Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran(w/c), Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Devon Thomas, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy.