Jason Holder is expected to be available for the second T20I at Eden Gardens on Friday. The former West Indies captain had missed the first T20I after being hit on the chest during a practice session on Tuesday.

The visitors had a gym session at their hotel on Thursday and Holder is learnt to have not felt any discomfort during training.

Holder’s availability will boost the West Indies batting which struggled against the Indian spinners on Wednesday. India won by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Vice-captain Nicholas Pooran admitted as much. “We can’t fault the bowlers, to be honest. As batsmen, we need to pace (the innings) much smarter, so it was definitely

the batting (that let us down). We need to continue to build partnerships and negate spinners better.

“We were in two minds against them,” Pooran explained. “Whether to attack them or keep them out of the game. We got caught there. It is a small fix. We have to be more clear in the next game to execute our plans. It was a bit tricky... The ball was stopping on the surface. It was two-paced. When the spinners and pacers bowled back of a length, you had to adjust to the pace off the pitch, so hitting through the line was difficult early on.

“Dew was a big factor as well. When we were bowling, a lot of guys were wiping the ball. The guys bowled a lot of full tosses as well (because of dew) towards the end, so conditions played a big factor. The wicket also played a lot better in the second half... That said, India batted really well, have to give them credit.”

(Match starts: 7pm, live on Star Sports Network)