26 August,2016 08:19 AM IST | | AFP
West Indies face India in two Twenty20 internationals in Florida at the weekend in a litmus test for both cricket's future in the US and Carlos Brathwaite's credentials as Caribbean skipper
MS Dhoni and Carlos Brathwaite
Fort Lauderdale: (USA): West Indies face India in two Twenty20 internationals in Florida at the weekend in a litmus test for both cricket's future in the US and Carlos Brathwaite's credentials as Caribbean skipper.
MS Dhoni and Carlos Brathwaite
After India cruised to victory in the Test series and in the aftermath of the Caribbean squad's latest round of blood-letting, the sides head for the sport's newest outpost, the Central Broward Regional Park, the only purpose-built cricket stadium in the US.
The first full international matches were staged in 2010 when , New Zealand played Sri Lanka in two T20Is.
Saturday and Sunday's back-to-back fixtures come at a crucial time for the West Indies. They may be the reigning world champions in the format having triumphed in India earlier this year, but that didn't save Darren Sammy's job as skipper.
Carlos' captaincy debut
Brathwaite's first job will be to introduce stability into the engaging but often frustrating nature of West Indies' short-form cricket - before they won their second World T20 in four years, they lost to Afghanistan in the qualifying round. India, meanwhile, have no worries over their confidence levels heading into the weekend.
They have enjoyed a solid run in T20 series in recent times, winning in Australia, Sri Lanka and claiming the Asia Cup before recovering to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in June.
Fun in Florida
Twelve of the 14-man Test squad will be in Florida with skipper Virat Kohli handing over leadership duties to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
They will have revenge on their minds having lost to the West Indies in the semi-finals of this year's World Twenty20. A crowd of 15,000 is expected in Florida over each of the two days.
