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India vs West Indies, 1st T20I: West Indies’ likely XI

Added pressure will be on Brathwaite, who has been handed the captaincy recently

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The year has been exceptionally fruitful for West Indies in limited-overs formats © Getty Images
The year has been exceptionally fruitful for West Indies in limited-overs formats © Getty Images

After a battle in the white clothes, India and West Indies are all set for some Twenty20 International (T20I) actions. The two teams will collide in a series of two back to back T20Is and, most interestingly, the matches will be played in a brand new venue in USA. India will play their first match on the American soil with the series and the matches will be played at the Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill. Before the match, here is the likely XI that West Indies might want to take field with. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs West Indies, 1st T20I, Lauderhill

The year has been exceptionally fruitful for West Indies in limited-overs formats, to be specific, in the shortest format of the game. The team won the ICC World T20 2016 and will be quite confident walking into the series, more so because they had defeated India on their way to the title. On the other hand, the series comes with India’s chance to beat West Indies and take a sweet revenge on the current world champions in the format. ALSO READ: IND vs WI, 1st T20I: Dhoni and co. look to vanquish world champions

India’s performance in the WT20 had two names who did exceptionally well individually in their respective departments. The first one is of Virat Kohli, who solely took the team to victorious ends in many of the recent matches, be it 20-overs or any other format. Currently enjoying a purple patch of his career, Kohli will definitely be one of the biggest names to look forward to in the series while the second is of talented young pacer Jaspreet Bumrah. Taking part in a competition soon after his international debut, Bumrah has become one of the key factors of India’s T20I squad and his perform justifies it. India, as expected, have included both the players to their squad for the T20Is. To combat the strong opponent, here is West Indies’ likely team:

Top-order: The strongest part of the West Indies squad has to be the batsmen. Apart from the fact that the core team is batting strong and has a long line-up, the squad offers a lot of options for newly-appointed skipper Carlos Brathwaite to play around with. One of the options for the opening position likely to do it for West Indies is Johnson Charles. Charles scored necessary runs opening for the team while is an option as a wicketkeeper. Being a right-hand batsman, he compliments West Indies’ left-handed six machine Chris Gayle well and is fit for the role. However, the other option available for Brathwaite is Andre Fletcher. At No. 3, it is one of the most experienced and in form player of the squad, Marlon Samuels, who comes out to bat. The top three batsmen are capable of giving the West Indies innings a kick start with a lot of quick runs and if they manage to execute their job properly, the runs on the board will add pressure upon the Indian bowlers.

Middle-order: The top-order of West Indies batting is strong, but there is definitely a lot more in store in the middle-order. Lendl Simmons comes out at No. 4 and in the upcoming two T20Is, he will try to replicate his performance against India in WT20. Simmons was one of the factors behind West Indies’ win in that match and will surely be one of the key players. And like that match, he will find good help from Andre Russell at the other end. These two players can form a crucial partnership in the middle-order for even more runs to be added to the scoreboard. Next in is Kieron Pollard, who is known to have one of the strongest pair of hands of all the power-hitters in the world currently. The West Indies batting still has a lot of batting left as Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite comes out to bat next. Bravo has been the hero for West Indies in many matches with brief yet useful innings towards the end while Brathwaite can turn things around in the last over as well, as he showed in the WT20. With these players taking care of the lower-middle-order, West Indies are sure to never fall short of runs in the T20I series.

Bowling: While the batting line-up is definitely a big positive, their bowling is not their weakness either. The team is mostly comprised of all-rounders but there are specialist bowlers upon whom the bowling will depend a lot. India’s main strength in batting is concentrated in the top-order and a few early scalps can do damage to the Indian batting. Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, the two spinners are West Indies’ main strength in bowling. Both have experience, are quite disciplined and fetch wickets regularly. Apart from these two, Russell, Bravo and Brathwaite constitute the pace attack. With one more place left to fill in the eleven, West Indies are left with three options of Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher and Jason Holder. The batting line-up is already quite long and with Johnson Charles in the team, the wicketkeeping duties are taken care of. The probable chances for West Indies to go with is obviously Holder. Holder is a dependable batsman down the order while his main role remains to be that of a pacer. So, the inclusion of Holder comes along with two options of utilising him, both as a batsman and a bowler. With the last vacant spot filled up with a potent option, the West Indies line-up looks sorted and the competition will surely be interesting.

Lastly, added pressure will be on Brathwaite, who has been handed the captaincy recently and is up against a seasoned name such as MS Dhoni who is considered as one of the most accomplished captains in the world.

West Indies likely XI: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)

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