It will be a big challenge for the hosts to stop the Indian Vijay Rath. Rohit displayed shrewd captaincy by including three spinners like Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi in the playing XI. Along with this, he surprised everyone by opening the innings with Suryakumar Yadav. In this format against England, Rohit started the innings with Rishabh Pant. In such a situation, Suryakumar became India’s seventh opener in T20 International this year. He batted aggressively and scored 24 runs in 16 balls.
The middle order will have to show strength
In the absence of KL Rahul, it will be interesting to see if the team management will continue to experiment for the opener. In the last match, Rohit Sharma scored 64 runs in 44 balls to lay the foundation for a big score but the Indian middle order faltered. However, in the last over, Dinesh Karthik’s bold innings (41 not out off 19 balls) took the team’s score to 190 runs. In such a situation, the middle order batsmen will have to show strength in the match. Especially Shreyas Iyer will have to open his hands. He could not even open an account in the first match. Today Deepak Hooda can be included in the playing XI in his place. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya were also dismissed cheaply in the last match. As far as the bowling is concerned, the Indian team was missing a better left-arm fast bowler for a long time but Arshdeep Singh impressed with his excellent bowling in the first match. The West Indies batsmen also had no answer for Ashwin and Bishnoi’s spin. It remains to be seen whether the team management will retain the trio of Jadeja, Ashwin and Bishnoi or return of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
Failed host on every front
As far as West Indies are concerned, the team failed on every front in the first match. Even the return of experienced Jesser Holder could not strengthen the team. The team management, promoting him in batting, sent him to number three but he could not even open the account. In bowling too, he conceded 50 runs in his four over spell. Captain Nicholas Pooran (18 runs) also could not take advantage of his good start. The highest score in batting was opener Shamar Brooks, who could only score 20 runs. In such a situation, if the host team wants to win, then it will have to improve on every front.
India vs West Indies T20 Rankings
- India – 1
- West Indies – 7
India vs West Indies face to face
- Total Matches – 21
- India won – 14
- Windies won – 6
- No Result – 1
Probable XI
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
West Indies: Shai Hope, Kyle Myers, Shamar Brooks, Brendan King, Nicholas Pooran (c), Rovman Powell, Akil Hossain, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Moti, Romario Shepherd, Jaden Seals
IND vs WI: The place in Trinidad, where the players of Team India reach to relax