A second string Indian team - led by Suresh Raina - will kick off the West Indies tour here at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday, when they take on an equally young home team in the only Twenty20 international.

Harbhajan Singh will deputise for Raina as most senior members of the ODI champions - including regular skipper MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan - are either recuperating or taking rest back home.

Believe it or not, the young Indian side also has a chance to create history as they have never ended on the right side against the West Indies in a Twenty20 match. But in the absence of Chris Gayle, India have the best chance to put the record straight.

The all important wicket at the Queen’s Park Oval is expected to be low and slow, which is against the strength of the hosts, who rely on pace and bounce.

The hosts have two of the most economical and frugal medium-pacers in skipper Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul but the Oval pitch appears to have been made more for the visitors’ liking.

India has three first-rate spinners in Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin and Amit Mishra to take advantage of the surface while West Indies have only young leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who could do likewise.

Indians are known to have a weakness against short-pitched deliveries yet they are unlikely to face any such threat on the bland Queen’s Park surface or from the composition of the West Indies side.

Though Ravi Rampaul is in prime form, neither Andre Russel nor Krishmar Santokie can be said to have the same effect as the missing trio of Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and Khemar Roach have on the opponents.

The other issues, which Gibson outlined, are the inability of his batsmen to rotate strike and their fallings against spin, particularly off-spin.

The tourists would be buoyed by the admission for they have two very potent off-spinners in Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin in the ranks.

Given the state of the Oval pitch, India would be tempted to play both Harbhajan and Ashwin in tomorrow’s game even though skipper Raina himself and Rohit Sharma can also turn their arms over.

Indians would have a few anxieties about their openers as left-handers Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel haven’t quite set the stadium on fire in recent times.

Their middle order though is strong and Kohli, Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma and Badrinath are all capable performers.

Indian pace bowling too is in the capable hands with Munaf Patel, a model of fitness and efficiency over the last few months.

Visitors have a reasonable batting line-up on paper with Darren Bravo being the pick of the lot yet it hasn’t quite translated into enough runs on the board in recent times.

Indeed, Gibson has openly admitted that it is time his batsmen pull their weight and support bowlers who have been doing more than an adequate job.

India have twice faced West Indies in Twenty20 internationals and come a cropper on both occasions.

India first met the West Indies during the 2009 Twenty20 World Championships and lost by seven wickets at Lord’s.

West Indies repeated the dose in the second encounter, again during the Twenty20 World Cup but this time in Caribbean, beating India by 14 runs at the Kensington Oval.

So lets see what happens in the match. Will India make history today by having victory on their side by defeating WI in T20?

SQUADS:

West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Christopher Barnewell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie and Lendl Simmons.

India: Suresh Raina (c), Harbhajan Singh (vC), S Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Vinay Kumar, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel.