West Indies vs India 1st T20 Preview | MS Dhoni and co seek revenge against World T20 champs
© Gettyimages
After a one-sided Test series, India and West Indies will clash against each other in the two-match T20 series at Florida in the USA with the first match taking place on Saturday. MS Dhoni and team will be looking to exact revenge on West Indies for the semi-final defeat in the 2016 World T20.
On Saturday, cricket fans in America will witness the clash between India and the World T20 champions West Indies. The two-match T20 series was approved by the ICC earlier this month, after BCCI’s plan for a mini-IPL hit roadblock. Although India won the Test series comfortably, it would not be easy for them in the shortest form of the game. India have lost 3 of the 5 matches they have played against West Indies in the shortest format of the game, the latest being the semi-final loss in Mumbai.
What to expect?
Stadium
The match will be held at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. A total of four International T20 matches have been played at the stadium with the last one coming in July 2012. New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies are the international teams to have played at the venue.
Pitch
The first two matches played in the ground saw scores of 120 and 81 in the first innings. In complete contrast, the next matches had first innings scores of 209 and 177. The average score from the four matches is 147, but India and West Indies will be eyeing to score more than 180 at the venue.
Weather
After rain played spoilsport in the fourth and final Test between India and West Indies at Queens Park Oval, the T20 series is also under threat from rain with a tropical storm headed right for South Florida.
"Heavy rains and gusty winds could begin over the weekend and continue through early next week," the Miami-based Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued early Friday.
Stats
Out of the four matches played at the venue, 3 times the team batting first has won the match.
Chris Gayle is the top scorer at the venue with a score of 85 not out against New Zealand.
Chris Gayle is also the leading run scorer at the venue with 138 runs in two games.
Sunil Narine is the leading wicket taker at the venue with 7 wickets in two matches.
Teams
India
WLWLW (last 5 T20 matches)
India will be very eager to win the match especially after their semi-final defeat in the World T20. The Men in Blue will be forced to make a few changes from their last T20 match against Zimbabwe as only MS Dhoni, KL Rahul & Jasprit Bumrah available from the squad that faced Zimbabwe in June. India are likely to play a three pacer-two spinner combination with Ravindra Jadeja playing the role of the all-rounder.
Likely XI: Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, KL Rahul, Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk. & C), Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Shami, Bumrah
West Indies
WWLWW (last 5 T20 matches)
West Indies, on the other hand, are under a new captain. Carlos Brathwaite replaced Darren Sammy s the captain for the series, and would want to start his captaincy with a win. Darren Sammy and Denesh Ramdin are been the notable absentees from the World cup winning squad. Kieron Pollard is a certainty in the playing eleven and Test captain Jason Holder might get a chance to play too.
Likely XI : Gayle, Simmons, Andre Fletcher (wk), Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite (c), Andre Russell, Holder, Badree, Narine
Stat preview
1 - Dwayne Bravo needs just one wicket to become the first West Indies bowler to take 50 wickets in T20Is.
2 - Chris Gayle needs just 2 sixes to get to 100 sixes in T20 Internationals. He has hit 98 sixes in 50 matches.
4 - Rohit Sharma needs to hit 4 more sixes in T20Is to become the second Indian player to hit 50 sixes in T20Is.
4 -Jasprit Bumrah needs to take four more wickets to become the leading wicket-taker in T20Is in a calendar year. He has taken 24 wickets from 19 T20I matches so far this year.
15 - The number of T20I matches won by India in this year, the most by any team in a calendar year in T20Is. India have played 19 T20I matches and lost only four out of those 19 this year.
