West Indies add Amir Jangoo as cover for the injured Jewel Andrew before the India T20Is

Amir Jangoo has been added to the West Indies squad for the five-match T20I series in India after Jewel Andrew injured a finger in the third ODI

Cricket West Indies called up the wicketkeeper-batter on Monday, a day before the series opens in Lucknow, with Jewel Andrew still under the medical team's observation after taking a blow to the hand at New Chandigarh on Saturday.

Scans found no fracture and Andrew has not been ruled out of the series, so Amir Jangoo arrives as cover for the gloves rather than as a formal replacement.

He does so on the back of the most productive international series of his career, 239 runs across the three ODIs against India.

How Andrew was hurt

The injury came in the field in the 36th over of India's innings in the third ODI, when Andrew moved to his right at cover and held a catch off Gudakesh Motie to dismiss Naman Dhir.

He completed the catch but took the impact on a finger, and was taken to hospital for an x-ray that showed no break.

Andrew did not come back on to the field and did not bat in the chase that followed, with captain Shai Hope moving up to open in his place.

Cover rather than a replacement

Cricket West Indies said Jangoo had been added to the squad as cover for the wicketkeeping position "following the finger injury sustained by Jewel Andrew during Saturday's third ODI".

The wording matters: Andrew remains in the touring party and is being assessed day by day, and the board has stopped short of ruling him out of any part of the five-match T20I series.

Jangoo's arrival gives Hope another keeping option, and one more batter for the top half of an order that already holds Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford.

A breakout ODI series

Jangoo made 58 not out in the first ODI, followed it with 114 in the second and added 67 in the third.

That left him third on the run charts for the series, behind India captain Shubman Gill on 334 and Hope on 278, and comfortably the most consistent of the West Indies middle order outside their captain.

India won the ODI leg 2-1, but the tourists took the final match in New Chandigarh in a record successful chase built on Hope's unbeaten century.

A different job in the shortest format

The 29-year-old has played seven T20Is since his international debut in December 2024, scoring 163 runs at a strike rate of 120.74.

Those are modest numbers for a format that asks a top-order batter to clear the ring from the first over, and they sit awkwardly beside the tempo he found in the 50-over games.

How West Indies use him — as an opener, in the middle order, or purely as insurance behind the stumps — will depend on what the medical staff report about Andrew over the next 24 hours.

What India face from Tuesday

The series runs across five venues between 6 and 17 October: Lucknow, then Ranchi on 9 October, Indore on 11 October, Hyderabad on 14 October and Bengaluru on 17 October.

India are led in the format by Shreyas Iyer, with Naman Dhir called into the T20I squad last week in place of Washington Sundar, who was released for Ranji Trophy duty.

West Indies, who found their best cricket of the tour only in the final ODI, now have to reproduce it on a schedule that gives them no time to settle.

The updated T20I squad reads: Shai Hope (c), Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Akeal Hosein, Amir Jangoo, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Kamil Pooran, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Quentin Sampson, Romario Shepherd and Shamar Springer.

The first T20I is in Lucknow on Tuesday, with Andrew's finger still being monitored by the West Indies medical team.

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