World T20 – Semi-Final 2 Preview – Kohli and Gayle on show at Wankhede's batting paradise
The Wankhede stadium in Mumbai has been the batting paradise for teams in the World T20. In the three matches at the venue so far, a total of 1205 runs have been scored, including 61 maximums. With batting being the focal point, the contest between India and West Indies on Thursday night is likely to be a matchup between the two Royal Challengers Bangalore heavyweights – Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle.
Kohli vs Gayle
The Men in Blue have been riding on the shoulders of the Delhi-lad so far this tournament. Kohli has scored 184 runs in the four matches at an average of 92 to keep India in the hunt for the title. The next best Indian batsman on the run-scorers list is more than 100 runs away, with skipper Dhoni having scored 74 runs in the four matches. With the rest of the top four in awful form and Yuvraj Singh ruled out of the tournament, the onus will be once again on Kohli to take India past the Windies on Thursday night.
On the other side, we have arguably the greatest batsman of the shortest format. Chris Gayle will have happy memories of the venue where he scored an unbeaten century off 47 balls against England in West Indies’ opening match of the tournament. The swashbuckling southpaw has only made four runs since the carnage at the Wankhede, but his importance to the Windies can be gauged from the defeat West Indies suffered against Afghanistan in the last group game, a game in which Chris Gayle was rested.
Lack of consistency on both sides
Apart from the two batting superstars, the teams have been lacking consistency in both batting and bowling.
India, who won the inaugural World T20, came into the tournament as the overwhelming favourites but found it difficult after suffering an opening day defeat against the Kiwis. A comfortable win against arch-rivals Pakistan and the last ball clincher versus Bangladesh guided them to a virtual knock-out against Australia. Once again Virat Kohli took India to victory with ease after playing a memorable knock at Mohali. Apart from Kohli, India’s batting has been miserable, while the bowling also doesn’t look convincing with Hardik Pandya the highest wicket taker with five.
Windies, who were the 2012 World T20 champions, strolled into the semis with three wins in a row against England, Sri Lanka and South Africa. But they took the foot off the accelerator in the last group match against minnows Afghanistan and suffered a humiliating loss. On the batting front, the Windies suffered a blow in the last match with their highest run-scorer in the tournament – Andre Fletcher – ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury.
On the batting and the bowling departments, the Windies have been much more consistent than the hosts so far. Andre Russel has picked seven wickets so far, while, Samuel Badree and Dwayne Bravo have six wickets each.
Head to Head
West Indies lead the head to head 2-1 in the World T20, but the hosts level it at 2-2 in the overall T20 internationals. India and West Indies have rarely played against each other in knock-out matches in ICC tournaments in the past 20 years and the last time the two teams met in the semi-final of an ICC tournament was way back in 1998 and the Windies advanced to the final of the Wills International Cup (later became the ICC Champions Trophy) with a six-wicket win at Dhaka.
Likely XI
India
Yuvraj’s injury has certainly opened up a spot in the ‘tried and tested XI’ of M S Dhoni. Although Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey seem the likely candidates to take the left-hander’s spot, Pawan Negi could become a surprise inclusion with his all-round ability giving India more options.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt and wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Pawan Negi, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra
West Indies
Similar to their rivals, the Windies also suffered a blow with Andre Fletcher ruled out and will go with Lendl Simmons as the replacement for the right-hander.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy (capt), Carlos Brathwaite, Sulieman Benn, Samuel Badree