Deadline: December 6, 2019 at 7 PM IST
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Pitch report
Although this will be the first T20I at Hyderabad, we have seen enough IPL matches here. In this year’s edition, we witnessed an even contest between bat and ball. The batsmen weren’t rewarded for the mindless slogging, that they had to choose their shots wisely.
Given the average scores, the pitch is likely to slow down in the second innings.
Teams
Probable XI for India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Manish Pandey/Washington Sundar/Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal
Probable XI for West Indies: Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Hayden Walsh/Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Kesrick Williams
NOTE: Pick your fantasy cricket team wisely.
Preview
West Indies have been in India since November. Some of them then went to Abu Dhabi, after the series against Afghanistan, to play the T10 league, and are now back for the limited-overs series against the hosts. Come to think of it, they had already spent 2 months here already during the IPL. It is safe to say these have become homely conditions for them.
India, on the other hand, have made a few changes to their squads, summoning Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami to strengthen their pace attack. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav have replaced Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar in the spin department that already comprises of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal. To place everything into perspective, they have tightened up their preparations for next year’s World T20 in Australia.
Players to watch out for
Rohit Sharma has scored the most runs in India-WI T20Is, collecting a whopping 425 runs including a hundred and three fifties. In all, he has smashed 2,539 runs – the most by any player in T20Is. That being said, Virat Kohli is not far behind Rohit. In case his deputy fails, Kohli might as well regain the top spot by the end of this series.
Evin Lewis has scored 2 T20I hundreds and both have come against India. He has also scored the most runs for West Indies against India. He will be one of the top candidates for captaincy in fantasy teams.
KL Rahul too has had some fun against West Indies. His 110 of 189 runs against West Indies came in one match. However, his spectacular innings was overshadowed by Evin Lewis’ ton at Lauderhill in 2017.
Kesrick Williams was impressive against Afghanistan last month, having picked 8 wickets and maintaining an economy of under 6 RPO. He is one of those pacers who does not look threatening but has the knack of deceiving the batsmen with his change in pace.
Deepak Chahar took another hat-trick in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy two days after his glory of 6 for 7 against Bangladesh. To make matters more interesting, he scored 55* at No. 7 last week.
Kieron Pollard is back to bowling his medium-pace bowling. He ended up taking 3 wickets against Afghanistan, looking fairly effective as he was in his heydays.
Match prediction
Since their 2016 World T20 victory, West Indies have won a mere 11 of 38 matches. In addition they have lost six consecutive T20Is against India. There’s no iota of doubt that they will have a tough time against India who are playing with full strength, barring Jasprit Bumrah.
Also, get to know the tips & tricks on how to play fantasy cricket.