Chennai – West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening one-day international against India in Chennai on Sunday.

Pollard said the team is looking to be competitive after being edged out in the recent Twenty20 series 1-2 following their loss in the decider on Wednesday.

“This pitch is bit of an unknown so we will see how it behaves,” Pollard said of the track at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

“We are looking forward to this challenge. We have done a lot of talking about how we want to play international cricket. We want to be competitive.”

Batsman Shivam Dube has been handed his ODI debut after an impressive show in the T20 series when he hit his maiden fifty in the shortest format.

Captain Virat Kohli said he is “happy” to bat first as a strong total would put the opposition under pressure.

“Wanted to bat, very happy, it’s a dry surface,” said Kohli.

“Very surprised by West Indies’ decision to bowl…West Indies are a dangerous side and we can’t take them lightly. It is good for us to bat first and it is better suited to our game.”

India: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami

West Indies: Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope, Sunil Ambris, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Hayden Walsh, Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell

Umpires: Nitin Menon (IND) and Shaun George (RSA)

TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)