IND vs WI: Mukesh Kumar makes his T20I debut, becomes only second Indian player to achieve unique feat

It’s raining debuts on the ongoing tour of the West Indies for the Indian team and one man, who has been at the centre of all the cap presentations is pacer Mukesh Kumar, who after making his debut in Test cricket and ODIs, made his debut in T20 internationals as well in the series opener on Thursday, August 3. With him making his T20I debut as well, Mukesh became only the second Indian player after T Natarajan to play all three formats for the first time on the same tour.

Natarajan, who was a net bowler for India for the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy made his debut in all three formats with the injury count rising with every single match. Mukesh, who has done well in domestic cricket in first-class and list-A formats, had a decent maiden IPL season playing for the Delhi Capitals and will be hoping to make a big impact in the shortest format as well, having impressed one and all in Tests and ODIs.

Not just Mukesh, there was one more debutant for India in the T20 series opener as Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma also received his cap in international cricket. Varma, who has been a force to reckon with in the last couple of IPL seasons, earned his maiden India call-up for the West Indies series.

As far as the match is concerned, West Indies skipper Rovman Powell won the toss and chose to bat as the T20 specialists including Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran and Obed McCoy all came back for the hosts. Pooran is coming off a 40-ball century in the Major League Cricket final having led the MI New York side to the title and West Indies will be hoping that the former captain can continue his form here as well.

India’s playing XI for 1st West Indies T20I: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar

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