West Indies v India, 2nd T20I Preview: Another thriller on the cards as Windies eyes series win

The first T20I was all about being fearless, relentless and smart. Both the teams racked up 489 runs in an epic display of fearless batting and T20 style strokeplay. The end of the riveting game was even more exciting. Only one ball, two runs to win and one to take the game into a super over. But, Bravo made Dhoni wait and wait before getting him caught by Marlon Samuels at short third man off a slower one to help West Indies win the match by the narrowest of margins.

A list of records were broken and many were under threat. The hurried arrangements to host the T20 leg of the West Indies tour was with an idea to promote cricket in the United States of America. But, what happened at Lauderhill last night actually took T20 cricket to a whole new level.

The second T20, which will be played at the same venue today, promises the same amount of madness. From the fan’s perspective, they will hope for a similar kind of thrill and entertainment tonight as well. But, speaking from the team’s point of view, things will get serious for them. West Indies will be seeking to get the perfect revenge for their Test defeat by winning this one and fly home with the trophy. While India, on the other hand, will fold up their sleeves hoping to even things up.

West Indies:

For West Indies, it will be all about giving a better bowling performance. The batsmen did the best they could to piling on 246 runs in 20 overs. But the bowlers had a very bad day and emulated their counterparts in terms of splurging away runs.

Ander Russell, currently one of the best T20 players in the world, was the most expensive. The dangerous spin bowling duo of Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree, who conceded 75 runs between them in just five overs, should come prepared with different plans. Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard should also buckle up. If the bowlers fail to deliver once again, it’d prove difficult to be second time lucky to escape defeat like they did last night.

Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis were breathing fire and looked unstoppable. Both did the maximum damage to the Indians. But, the big question will be which one of these two openers skipper Carlos Brathwaite will drop to accommodate the biggest T20 superstar – Chris Gayle – in the team. If termed fit, there’s is no way Brathwaite will keep him out of the team. But, then it remains to be seen who sacrifices the place to make way for the Universe Boss.

Probable XI-

Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle/ Evin Lewis, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite (C), Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Andre Fletcher (wk), Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree

Watch Live Streaming Available only in US, CAN and the Caribbean Islands. – http://www.yupptv.com/cricket/india-vs-west-indies-t20-live.html

India:

No question about the fact that this will be a must-win game for the Men in Blue. MS Dhoni will have a couple of things on mind when he sits down to select the team for the final game. The first and most important will be re-shuffling his bowling attack. After 489 runs being conceded in just 40 overs, one can clearly understand that the deck was a featherbed for the batsmen. So, there’s no point in blaming the bowlers. But the way Stuart Binny was treated in the only over he bowled, it was even more clear that a military medium bowler would be of no use in Florida anymore.

His apt replacement can be Amit Mishra. His name comes to the mind solely for the reason how the two of the spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowled. It was because of these two that India managed to pull back the Windies even Dhoni acknowledged this fact in the post-match presser.

Both the spinners were economical during the middle overs, giving away just 18 runs in the 12th, 14th and 16th over. The wind from the pavilion end helped the slow bowlers with that regards Mishra’s bowling would certainly be better than opting for Umesh Yadav.

The India bowling attack, overall, should be ready to counter the hyper-aggressive West Indian batsmen. Speaking of the batting order in all likelihood it should remain the same. But one man will be eager to change things. Virat Kohli doesn’t take failures lightly and will be the man under the spotlight.

Probable XI-

Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni (C/wk), Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Match timing: 19:30 IST

StatAttack:

1. Dwayne Bravo has taken 49 wickets and needs 1 more to reach the 50 wickets milestone.

2. 489 runs scored last night was the highest aggregated match in T20 history. Previous highest was 469 runs in CSK-RR game at Chepauk in 2010.

3. West Indies hit at least one boundary in 19 out of 20 overs last night, joint most by a team in a T20I.