1st ODI, West Indies set to lock horns against UAE

United Arab Emirates will host the West Indies in a three-match ODI series starting on June 4 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Both teams will see this series as a preparatory event for the upcoming ICC 2023 World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe. While WI have sent a squad full of second-string players, UAE will look to take full advantage of home conditions. Here's more.

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium will host the 1st ODI between these two teams. The pitch will remain good for batting but will offer some assistance to the spinners and new-ball bowlers. The teams batting first won 132 matches out of a total of 252 ODIs played here. Fans can live stream the match on the FanCode app from 6:00pm IST.

WI have featured in two ODIs against the UAE and notably, they have won both matches pretty convincingly. Their last encounter happened in 2018 at the World Cup Qualifier in Harare. Windies slammed 357/4 batting first courtesy of twin tons from Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer. In reply, UAE's Rameez Shahzad scored a century but eventually, WI won by 60 runs.

Windies have announced a new-look team for the tour of UAE and it is an opportunity for the players to show their mettle ahead of the upcoming World Cup. While Shai Hope will lead the team, four uncapped players are in the squad. Meanwhile, it will be good preparation for UAE as they also want to qualify for the showpiece event.

UAE probable XI: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Vriitya Aravind (wicket-keeper), Asif Khan, Rohan Mustafa, Rameez Shahzad, Lovepreet Singh, Aayan Afzal Khan, Sanchit Sharma, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, and Karthik Meiyappan. WI probable XI: Shai Hope (captain & wicket-keeper), Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Dominic Drakes, Akeem Jordan, Kevin Sinclair, Keemo Paul, Raymon Reifer, and Odean Smith.

Since 2022, Hope has amassed 853 ODI runs at an average of 40.61. While Brooks has also scored 712 runs at 32.36 since last year. In this period, Aravind and Waseem have slammed 1,270 runs and 1,021 runs respectively. Zahoor is UAE's top wicket-taker in ODIs with 84 wickets, while Mustafa has 80 wickets. Keemo Paul has scalped 25 wickets in 23 ODIs.

Fantasy option 1: Shai Hope, Brandon King (c), Muhammad Waseem, Sharmarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Keemo Paul (vc), Rohan Mustafa, Raymon Reifer, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique and Odean Smith. Fantasy option 2: Shai Hope (c), Brandon King, Vriitya Aravind, Sharmarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Rohan Mustafa (vc), Raymon Reifer, Keemo Paul, Karthik Meiyappan, Odean Smith, and Zahoor Khan.