Preveiw
After the loss in
the first T20 match against the hosts, Windies needs to bounce back in order to
keep the series alive. They may need to look more into their bowling as
compared to their batting. Explanation to follow. As far as India is concerned they look a
solid formidable side with everyone knowing what is expected out of them.
Lucknow is hosting
its first international match. It will be interesting to see how the pitch will
behave and what the captain winning the toss decides to do. If I were Rohit
Sharma, I would look to Bat first, put the runs on the board and let the struggling
Windies batting line up chase the score. Having said that Windies' batting is
very mercurial and has the potential to chase down any total on a given day.
Let us see what we
can expect from this game.
Windies' point of view -
Batting on paper
looks potent. Shai Hope was in a cracker of form in first three ODIs just to
fizzle out in last two ODIs. He with experienced Denesh Ramdin are a good
opening pair. With explosive Hetmyer and mighty Pollard at 3 and 4, the top
order looks commendable. Coming to middle order, Darren Bravo is perfect at 5
(probably Pollard and Bravo can exchange the place depending upon the
situation). Bravo can be change his game speed as per the needs of the game. At
6 Rovman Powell is yet to show his talent on the Indian soil. Followed by him,
captain Carlos Braithwaite is more than handy at 7. Fabian allen and Keemo paul
at 8 & 9 were pivotal for Windies to get pass 100 in last match. We have
not seen much from Khary Pierre and Oshane Thomas with bat. Though the Windies
fell apart to Indian spinners in Kolkata, Indians cannot take Windies for
granted in Lucknow.
Suggestion in
batting order - Pooran needs to replace Powell. Pooran has had a wonderful CPL.
Bowling - Though inexperienced Oshane Thomas and
Captain Carlos Braithwaite troubled the Indian batsman in Kolkata, Windies need
to identify their bowling combination which can consistently keep the pressure
on Indian batting line up lead by Rohit Sharma. For the fifth bowler, Windies
need to look to Pollard and Allen. Keemo paul has not troubled the Indian
batsman till now on the tour and Khary Pierre has made his debut in last match
where he was very impressive with economical figures of 4-0-16-1.
Obed McCoy can come
in place of Keemo Paul / Fabien Allen.
India's point of view
Batting - With Rohit Sharma and
Shikhar Dhawan at top followed by KL Rahul, it is upto the opposition to ensure
that they get them out quickly. Otherwise any one of these batsman can do heavy
destruction to the opposition. Pant / Dinesh Karthik and Manish pandey form a
solid Middle Order. Krunal Pandya at 8 and Kuldeep Yadav at 9 are followed by
tail. India may be tempted to provide an opportunity to Shreyas Iyer. However,
who will sit out is also question. Given the squad, this side is currently
nicely balanced.
Bowling - Bumrah is doing what he has been doing best,
bowling fast and on the mark. Khaleel has grabbed the opportunity with both his
hands. Kuldeep is also in a great wicket taking form. With Krunal bowling
economically, Windies batsman have uphill task. The only cause of worry is
Umesh. However, he needs to be given a long rope.
All in all, the
lucknow match may prove to be the best firecracker of the Diwali for the
spectators.
Nicely written chap !
ReplyDeleteThanks.
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