Deadline: August 3, 2019 at 8 PM IST
Venue: Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida
Pitch and conditions
The pitch at Lauderhill is a batting paradise. In 2016, India lost to West Indies by a mere run in a titanic chase of 245. Evin Lewis and KL Rahul scored hundreds with a strike rate of over 200.
The weather, however, looks bleak in Florida. Rain is likely to put a dampener on your weekend plans.
Predictions
Expect a high-scoring contest. Make batsmen and all-rounders your power players to fetch more points. If anything, the bowlers are likely to be taken for cleaners.
Probable XI for West Indies: Evin Lewis, John Campbell, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Keemo Paul, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
Probable XI for India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Krunal Pandya/Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed
NOTE: Pick your fantasy cricket team wisely.
Head-to-head
Both teams have won 5 matches and 2 bilateral series each.
Players to watch out for
Sunil Narine will make an international comeback after almost 2 years. Meanwhile, he has been playing T20 cricket across the globe, also making sure that he corrects his action. At Lauderhill, he has taken 7 wickets at 13.71, the most by any player.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. In the recently concluded 2019 World Cup, he took 10 wickets in 7 matches. He will play a key role in Powerplay as well death overs.
Andre Russell may have had a disappointing time in the World Cup, but what he did in the IPL is still fresh in our minds. He was adjudged Player of the Tournament for blasting 510 runs with a spectacular strike rate of 204.8 and taking 11 wickets.
All eyes will be on Rohit Sharma, the highest run-scorer in the World Cup. Need we say more? He is the top contender for captaincy in fantasy cricket.
T20I is the only format Virat Kohli is yet to register a three-figure mark in. However, he is the only player to average over 50 across formats.
Evin Lewis will have to do the bulk of the scoring at the top, for West Indies will be playing without Chris Gayle and Shai Hope. He has a terrific record in the format, having hammered 2 hundreds and 4 fifties in a meagre 20 matches.
Kieron Pollard is a T20 legend, having featured in 475 T20s. He has scored as many as 9,316 runs and taken 261 wickets. He was at his brutal best in the IPL, rescuing Mumbai Indians from the roughest of storms as always.
Nicholas Pooran was applauded for his gutsy performances in England. His 367 runs at 52.4 were the most by a West Indian.
Ravindra Jadeja was the star of the first semi-final, having taken a wicket and scored 77 runs under immense pressure. He will now be a regular in years to come. He will be India’s prime all-rounder in the absence of Hardik Pandya.
There’s no MS Dhoni, no Dinesh Karthik. The selectors want to rest the talented Rishabh Pant’s resilience. He is reputed for throwing away his wicket at crucial intervals. The management wants him to work on the very aspect, for he has all the shots in the book but patience.
Also, get to know the tips & tricks on how to play fantasy cricket