Why is Pooran captaining West Indies in place of Pollard in 2nd ODI; whom has KL Rahul replaced in India’s Playing XI

Nicholas Pooran is West Indies' stand-in captain for the 2nd ODI against India on Wednesday.

As the cameras panned to the two captains for the toss of the 2nd ODI between India and West Indies, there was one big change spotted. In place of Kieron Pollard, it was Nicholas Pooran who was out as West Indies’ stand-in captain. As Pooran won the toss and opted to bowl, he explained the reason behind Pollard missing out, which also is the only change in their team from the opening ODI on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma and Nicholas Pooran during the toss.  (BCCI)

“We will bowl first. Kieron isn't fit enough, has a niggle. We're staying in the present, the goal is to play a good brand of cricket, for the entire duration of the game. Just one change for us - Odean Smith is in,” said Pooran.

For India, a returning KL Rahul gets a place in the Playing XI, which means that one of the players from the first game had to make way. While many expected, it would de Deepak Hooda to sit out, surprisingly that wasn’t the case.

"It's going to be a challenging one, we always wanted to bat first, put the score on the board and today gives us a chance. We're not thinking too far ahead at the moment, if we do the things right, we will always do well and get the runs on the board. One change for us - KL Rahul comes back in place of Ishan Kishan," India captain Rohit Sharma mentioned.

Teams:

West Indies (Playing XI): 1 Shai Hope (WK), 2 Brandon King, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Nicholas Pooran (Captain), 6 Jason Holder, 7 Akeal Hosein, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Odean Smith, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Kemar Roach

India (Playing XI): 1 Rohit Sharma (Captain), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rishabh Pant (WK), 5 Suryakumar Yadav, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Prasidh Krishna