Deadline: December 22, 2019 at 1:30 PM IST
Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Pitch report
The average first and second innings scores at the Barabati Stadium read 245 and 226 respectively. In 18 completed ODIs here, a target has been chased 10 times. This is evidence to the fact that the pitch remains firm throughout the match.
Expect a high-scoring thriller.
Probable XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav
West Indies: Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Alzarri Joseph, Khary Pierre, Sheldon Cottrell
NOTE: Pick your fantasy cricket team wisely.
Match prediction
West Indies may not have won a bilateral series in the format against India since 2006, but one cannot disregard the fact that they have forced the Indians to put their best foot forward. Virat Kohli has already said that they won’t take the visitors lightly. Who will get the better of whom, is a question only time can tell.
Players to watch out for
Shreyas Iyer’s likes taking West Indian bowlers to the cleaners: his scores read 71, 65, 70, and 53. Rishabh Pant and he broke Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most runs in an over for India: the young duo collected as many as 31 runs off Roston Chase’s over that included 4 sixes.
Since Pant revealed that he will bat according to the situation, his performance has vastly improved. He showed tenacity at Chennai when India lost early wickets and then went all guns blazing qt Visakhapatnam when they had enough runs on the scoreboard. He was 39 off 13, threatening to surpass AB de Villiers’ record for the fastest fifty (off 16 balls). However, he was caught in the deep.
Shai Hope went past Virat Kohli and is only behind Rohit Sharma in the list of highest run-scorers in ODIs in 2019. He now has 1,303 runs at 62 to his name, including 4 hundreds and 8 fifties.
Rohit Sharma is at the second spot in the list of most hundreds in a calendar year in ODIs. In all Rohit has smashed 1,427 runs at 57 including 7 hundreds and 5 fifties. He also has been registering the highest scores in ODIs for India since 2013.
Nicholas Pooran has been in a top-notch form of late. His 75 off 47 comprising 6 sixes could have taken West Indies over the line on another day.
Kuldeep Yadav became the first player from India to pouch two international hat-trick. He has been out of sorts for a year or so, and the hat-trick must have relieved him. To make matters more interesting, he has now taken 24 wickets in a mere 14 matches against West Indies.
Barring Sheldon Cottrell, no West Indian bowler has managed to trouble the hosts. Although he conceded runs unreasonably, he at least managed to take key wickets.
Also, get to know the tips & tricks on how to play fantasy cricket.