Kamil Pooran earns a maiden West Indies call-up for the white-ball tour of India

Cricket West Indies has handed Kamil Pooran a maiden international call-up and rested Jason Holder for a white-ball tour of India that opens in Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September

The squads for three ODIs and five T20Is, announced from the board's headquarters in St John's, keep Shai Hope as captain in both formats and hold together most of the group that played at home against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

The one new name is Kamil Pooran, a right-handed opening batter yet to play international cricket, who made 273 runs in eight innings for Saint Lucia Kings in this year's Caribbean Premier League at a strike rate of 159.64 and an average of 39.

Cricket West Indies said his selection reflected a deliberate approach to identifying and developing emerging talent ahead of the 2028 T20 World Cup, a horizon that runs through much of the rest of the announcement.

Pooran rewarded for a CPL breakout

Pooran's season was among the clearest gains of the Caribbean Premier League for the selectors, and it came at the top of the order, a position West Indies have cycled through in recent years.

His strike rate was matched by an average close to 40, a combination the tournament produces less often than either figure on its own.

He joins a T20I batting group that already carries Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd.

Auguste out, Campbell back, Hetmyer delayed

Ackeem Auguste has been ruled out of the tour and continues his rehabilitation after surgery in August. Jewel Andrew replaces him and has been named as a top and middle-order batting option.

John Campbell returns to the ODI squad after missing the final two matches of the New Zealand series with a hamstring injury.

Shimron Hetmyer, who played the last two games of that series, has been permitted an extended recovery period after the CPL and will join the party for the T20Is rather than the ODIs.

Jason Holder has been rested and appears in neither squad, while Quentin Sampson, a member of the West Indies squad at the T20 World Cup in India earlier this year, comes back in.

A qualification cycle already decided

The first two ODIs close the cycle for automatic qualification to the ICC Men's 50-over World Cup, and the board stated plainly that the results will not change where West Indies finish.

They cannot overhaul their nearest challengers in the qualification standings and will instead take part in the ICC's qualification tournament early next year.

The ODI leg therefore carries no qualification consequence for the visitors.

Sammy frames it as preparation

"Playing against the top team in the world presents us with a chance to fine tune and improve our performances as an ODI team which has seen quality performances across the cycle," head coach Daren Sammy said.

"The series also creates a valuable platform to assess players who are stepping into important roles for this series with a long-term target of competing in the World Cup in 2027," he added.

On the T20I group, Sammy said the aim was to "build on the momentum from our series win against Sri Lanka, with the long-term goal of developing a strong core of players ahead of the next T20 World Cup", and called a tour against "the World Champions at home" valuable preparation.

Eight cities in three weeks

The squad leaves the Caribbean on 21 September and arrives in Trivandrum on 23 September.

The ODIs are at Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September, Guwahati on 30 September and New Chandigarh on 3 October.

The T20Is follow at Lucknow on 6 October, Ranchi on 9 October, Indore on 11 October, Hyderabad on 14 October and Bengaluru on 17 October.

India are the top-ranked side in the world in both formats, Cricket West Indies noted in announcing the squads.

The tour opens at Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September and runs through to Bengaluru on 17 October.

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