IND vs WI 1st T20I: PREVIEW

After a convincing 3-0 whitewash against the Men in Maroon in ODI series, the focus now shifts to Kolkata where the hosts take on the visitors for a 3-match T20I series.

The series provides a great opportunity to both sides with the T20 World Cup just less than 8 months away in Australia. India have plenty of T20 cricket scheduled ahead of the mega event with series against West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa, England and Asia cup. That gives them much needed freedom to experiment and get their house in order. 

One the other hand, the visitors are coming from a 3-2 series win against England and would look to continue their form in their best format. In their last 3 series meetings. West Indies have fared very poorly by winning just 1 out of 9 T20 Internationals. They suffered back to back whiteswashes in 2018 and 2019. And finally managed to win one T20I in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Both teams will be hampered with the unavailability of some of their key players as India will be without the likes of KL Rahul, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar while West Indies will miss the services of Evin Lewis, Andre Russell who is currently playing BPL and Shimron Hetmyer who failed to pass the fitness test. This opens up great opportunities for some of the youngsters who have been travelling with the squad for a while without any game time. Maharashtra and CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad in all likelyhood could get a chance to open in absence of KL Rahul. One key takeaway from Captain Rohit Sharma's press conference was when he said their idea is to identify the potential World Cup XI and give them enough game time. He also stressed on how they are not in a mood of experimenting anymore with respect to trying different players and focus will be on addressing holes in the squad.

Probable XI

India: Rohit Sharma, Kishan/Ruturaj, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas/Hooda, Harshal/Venkatesh, Kuldeep/Shardul, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh/Deepak Chahar

West Indies: Mayers/Hope, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Fabian Allen, Odean Smith, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell

Head to Head
Overall: India leads 10-6
Last 5 matches: India leads 4-1
Under Rohit's Captaincy: India leads 3-0

Match Ups

India
Rohit vs Pollard: 11 runs off 7 balls with 2 dismissals
Rohit vs Cottrell: 55 runs off 46 balls with no dismissals
Kohli vs Holder: 49 runs off 21 balls with no dismissals
Kohli vs Cottrell: 23 runs off 22 balls with 2 dismissals

West Indies
King vs Deepak: 18 runs off 8 balls with no dismissals
Pollard vs Chahal: 8 runs off 7 balls with 1 dismissal
Pooran vs Chahal: 17 runs off 7 balls with no dismissals

Key Players

West Indies

Jason Holder: The all-rounder was the man of the series against England with 15 wkts at an economy rate of 7.78 which included one 4-wicket and one 5-wicket haul. He also recorded a unique feat of scalping 4 wickets in 4 deliveries. 

Rovman Powell: Promoted to no. 3 in the last series against England, Powell scored a scintillating 107. The innings consisted of some brutal power hitting. No wonder Delhi Capitals were happy when they got him at 2.4 crores. The trio of Powell, Shepard and Odean is one of the most explosive lower order one can get.

Nicholas Pooran: Batting was a major letdown for West Indies in ODI series. The onus will be once again on wicketkeeper batsman Nicholas Pooran in the middle order along with Kieron Pollard. Pooran ended up as the highest run scorer against England with 164 runs. 

India

Kishan/Ruturaj: Either one of them is set to partner Rohit Sharma at the top in absence of KL Rahul. Ruturaj has been in terrific form after a record breaking IPL. He was the top scorer in VHT with 603 runs at an average of 150. And scored 259 runs in SMAT at an average of 51. Ishan opened the innings in last game against NZ.

Venkatesh Iyer: India continue their search for their next all rounder. After having a impressive debut season while opening in the IPL for KKR, he was immediately selected as a net bowler during T20 World Cup and picked for the NZ series in place of Hardik.
He has been assigned the finisher's role, contrary to what he does for his franchise in the IPL.
 

Form Update of Probable XI
(runs in last 5 T20I innings)

245: Rohit Sharma
164: Nicholas Pooran
149: Virat Kohli
122: Brandon King
117: Romario Shepherd
113: Ishan Kishan
113: Kieron Pollard
  96: Kyle Mayers (4 inns)
  94: Suryakumar Yadav
  84: Shreyas Iyer
  72: Rishabh Pant
  61: Jason Holder
  58: Shai Hope
  54: Akeil Hosein
  50: Fabian Allen

  

Fantasy XI