A West Indies team surprisingly in the lead after winning the opening T20 International against India in Trinidad and Tobago last Thursday, will take to the National Stadium, Providence from 10.30 hours today aiming to go 2-0 up against an India side keen to correct its mistakes from the first game of the five-match T20I series.
Both teams enjoyed the final practice session yesterday at the venue with the West Indies team training from 10am to 1pm and the Indians training from 1pm to 4pm.
West Indies skipper, Rovman Powell, in his assessment of the playing conditions, said that they seem to be better than the conditions of the first match.
“Just from training here today I think it is better conditions than what was in Trinidad. The pitch seems a bit better, hopefully tomorrow come, we do conclude a better wicket,” he said.
In Thursday’s opening T20I, Guyana’s Romario Shepherd, held his nerve to concede a mere six runs from the final over, taking a wicket to boot.
It enabled the West Indies to eke out a four run win and take a 1-0 lead
at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy pitch where the West Indies posted 149-6 and India ended on 145-9.
Powell revealed that the mood in the camp was very upbeat after the team drew first blood and all eyes were focused on extending their winning ways.
“It’s very important, the guys are upbeat about our chances of beating India if we can go two-love up (2-0), the pressure will solely be on India and it is just for us to close out the series after that but we are not looking too far ahead, tomorrow is a very important game and hopefully we can do some good stuff tomorrow,” he reasoned.
However, the Jamaican was cognizant of India’s ability and will not be taking the number one-ranked T20 side for granted.
“I think complacency is the furthest thing from our minds, India is one love down and we are expecting them to come hard but if we can find ourselves with a 2-0 lead in the series it would be good.”
If West Indies are to solidify their control of the series, their top order will need to make swift amends to their early departures. Johnson Charles followed up his century in South Africa back in March with scores of 0 and three while Brandon King has not converted his starts into landmarks in his four innings this year. He has scored 23, one, 36 and 28.
Similarly, Kyle Mayers in the opening position has not converted his starts with only one half-century in his last 10 innings. India’s Yuzvendra Chahal is expecting his team to bounce back.
“I think we played good cricket, but we missed a little bit but this match we will fill that area and definitely we will bounce back,” he said during the pre-match interview.
Chahal admitted that not much of the conditions is known with no player present in India’s squad from the last match the two sides played at Providence.
India will be without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
West Indies last defeated India in successive T20Is some seven years ago when they scored a seven-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian city of Mumbai followed by a one-run win at the Central Broward Regional Park in the United States four months later.
Squads:
WEST INDIES (from): Rovman Powell (captain), Kyle Mayers (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas.
INDIA (from): Hardik Pandya (captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Umran Malik.
