WI vs IND: 3rd T20I Preview – India eye clean sweep over T20I champions
India’s Caribbean conquest began with a three-match T20I series. We are through the first two games and are yet to see the breath-taking action that we expected. Lauderhill, Florida dished out two slow tracks where the batting units struggled to get going. The action now shifts to Guyana for the final game. Despite it being a dead-rubber, the prospect of teams bringing in fresh faces makes it an interesting affair.
Also read: WI vs IND: 2nd T20I Review – Rohit, Krunal star as India seal series
West Indies, an assembly of T20 superstars, are yet to bat with a purpose. They posted only 95 runs in the first T20I and laboured to 98/4 in 16.3 overs before the rain cancelled the completion of the second match. The likes of Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer need to grab this final chance and enter the ODI series with confidence. The bowling department has not done too badly.
Virat Kohli’s men took 17.2 overs and lost six wickets in the pursuit of 96 runs in the first T20I. With Rohit Sharma smashing 67 at the top, the Indian side fared better the second time and notched a score of 167/5 batting first. The poor form of Rishabh Pant and Manish Pandey in the middle order will be a worry for Kohli. The inclusion of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer may solve these problems. The bowling side has performed as expected.
Match Info
WI vs IND, 3rd T20I: August 6th, Tuesday
Providence Stadium, Guyana (08:00 PM IST)
Head-To-Head
Played – 13
West Indies wins – 5
India wins – 7
No result – 1
Before the series began, the numbers were in balance. However, with successive victories, India now lead the hosts by a margin of two matches. This game will be India’s first T20I against West Indies at this venue.
Team News
West Indies
Carlos Brathwaite made one change to the side after the loss in the first game. West Indies dropped the opener John Campbell and brought in a left-arm spinner in Khary Pierre. Sunil Narine was promoted to the top spot but the experiment failed as the mystery spinner was kept quiet for long by the Indian bowlers.
Jason Mohammed and Anthony Bramble have not featured in the series yet. The absentees stand a chance to get some playtime in the dead rubber. Bramble is a wicketkeeper-batsman who was impressive in last year’s Global T20 Canada.
India
The Indian team typically went unchanged in the first two T20I encounters. The visitors have won both the matches and have pocketed the series which gives them an opportunity to try out a few new faces. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer could get a chance to put out a better batting display than the current lot. Chahar brothers are also in contention as they have been included only for the T20I series.
Probable XI
West Indies: E Lewis, S Narine, N Pooran (wk), R Powell, S Hetmyer, K Pollard, C Brathwaite (c), K Paul, K Pierre, S Cottrell, O Thomas
India: S Dhawan, R Sharma/ KL Rahul, V Kohli (c), S Iyer/M Pandey, R Pant (wk), K Pandya, R Chahar/R Jadeja, B Kumar/D Chahar, K Ahmed, N Saini
Stat Attack
- West Indies need 1 more win to reach 50 wins in T20 internationals
- Sunil Narine needs to take three wickets to become West Indies’ highest wicket-taker in T20Is.
- If India wins, it will be their fourth 3-0 victory in a three-match T20I series. They had defeated West Indies 3-0 at home last year as well.
