India vs West Indies 3rd T20I to also have delayed start to give players time to recover

Basseterre (St Kitts): The third match of the T20I series between India and the West Indies at Warner Park later on Tuesday will also have a delayed start in order to give adequate rest and recovery time to players for the back-to-back matches, according to Cricket West Indies (CWI).

The third T20I of the engrossing five-match series at St Kitts will start at 9:30pm India time on Tuesday after the second match of the series on Monday began a 11 p.m. IST (earlier scheduled at 8 p.m. IST) due to team luggage arriving into St. Kitts from Trinidad late.

On Tuesday, CWI issued a statement saying, “A revised start time of 12pm local time (9:30pm India) for the third match between West Indies and India in the T20I Cup to be played at Warner Park in St Kitts on Tuesday 2nd August.

“Following the delayed start on Monday, the teams have agreed to start the third T20 Cup match at a later time to ensure that the players receive adequate rest and recover time for the back-to-back matches in St. Kitts and in consideration of the back-to-back matches to come in Florida,” the statement added.

The five-match series is level 1-1 after West Indies bounced back to win the second T20I by five wickets. Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy delivered the best-ever bowling figures by a West Indies bowler in T20I matches with his six wickets for just 17 runs. India won the first contest by 68 runs last Friday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad.

Earlier on Monday, CWI had cited significant delays in crucial team luggage arriving into St Kitts from Trinidad as reason behind the match timing being postponed. “Due to circumstances beyond CWI’s control, there have been significant delays in crucial team luggage arriving into St Kitts from Trinidad.”

“As a result, today’s (Monday’s) 2nd T20 Cup match is due to start at 10 p.m. India. CWI regrets any inconvenience caused to our valued fans, sponsors, broadcast partners and all other stakeholders,” CWI had said. The match had got delayed by another hour after the announcement.

–IANS