India vs West Indies: Desperate Windies seek redemption in do-or-die clash as confident hosts look to seal T20I series

Following the surprise triumph in the Pune ODI, West Indies’ performance graph has gone downwards significantly as the next three encounters have all turned out to be one-sided affairs in favour of the Indians. The spark, which was evident during the first half of the ODI series, has suddenly gone missing from the visitors’ camp. Even in the T20 format, which considerably is the stronghold of this Windies unit, their batsmen failed to get the ball rolling on a slightly sluggish Eden track on Sunday night. Though their pace bowlers gave India a scare during their chase of the modest 110-run target, Dinesh Karthik and Co saw the team through fairly comfortably in the end. [caption id=“attachment_5509871” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  West Indies desperately need a turnaround if they are to keep the T20I series alive till the third and final fixture at Chennai. AP[/caption] Now, in what is a must-win fixture on Tuesday, West Indies seek redemption especially with the willow. It is going to be the inaugural international match at the newly-built Ekana stadium and Carlos Brathwaite’s boys need to play out of their skins to present a memorable contest on the field to cricket fans at Lucknow, who will be witnessing the first international match in the city since 1994. Firstly, the West Indies batting department needs to sort out their mess. In the last three outings, their batsmen seemed to be operating only on two gears — extra aggressive or ultra defensive. There hasn’t been anything in between. Against a versatile bowling attack like India’s, one should know as a batsman how to pace his innings even in the 20-over version of the game. At the Eden Gardens, the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo tried to go for high-risk expansive shots without getting accustomed with the pace and bounce of the track, and no wonder they perished so quickly. So, if the West Indies are to keep the series alive till the final T20I in Chennai, their batsman need to come up with a better gameplan. In the absence of Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, the visitors sent Shai Hope alongside Denesh Ramdin to open the innings. It’s high time they revisited their strategy. Instead of opening with a makeshift option like Ramdin, they can try out specialist Nicholas Pooran at the top. In that case Ramdin can play in the middle-order, replacing someone like Rovman Powell, who is yet to play a significant knock on this tour. The Ekana track reportedly is expected to be on the slower side. The local curator has told the media that the pitch has long dead grass on both sides with cracks in between. Hence, spinners will play a huge role in this second T20I right from the start and West Indies batting will go through yet another spin-test. As far as their bowling department’s concerned, their impressive pace brigade, led by 21-year old Jamaican Oshane Thomas, is not likely to have the kind of impact that we saw in the previous fixture. Also, their own spin-attack lacks quality and experience. Hence, the odds don’t seem to be favouring West Indies. India, on the other hand, are feeling much more comfortable going into this fixture, and should be confident of clinching the series with a game to spare. Skipper Rohit Sharma knows his bowling line-up is tailor-made for such slow and low pitches. Someone like Kuldeep Yadav or Krunal Pandya must be licking their lips to roll their arms over in these conditions. At Eden, India went for  a three-pacer, two-spinner combination. However, in Lucknow, the think-tank may opt for either Yuzvendra Chahal or Washington Sundar to strengthen their spin-department. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had missed the first T20I because of a “gastric complaint” is likely to return in place of Umesh Yadav. And if India play an extra spinner, left-armer Khaleel Ahmed may have to sit out as Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar are their first-choice pace options. Nevertheless, a lot of focus once again will be on India’s middle-order batting. Players like KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant and Karthik are well aware of the fact that any significant contribution in these matches can open the door for them in the 50-over line-up. In the last game, Karthik did utilise his opportunity and took the team to victory with an unbeaten knock. It seems others need to take a leaf out of his book. Interestingly, since his ‘Player of the Series’ effort in the Asia Cup, Shikhar Dhawan seems to have lost his mojo a little bit in this home series. So, he would be keen on getting himself back in the groove before boarding the Australia-bound flight. As the T20I leg of West Indies’ tour heads towards the northern part of the country, the dew factor will play a more prominent role. With uncertainty surrounding the nature of the wicket and a wet ball to counter, both skippers would hoping to chase at this venue. Both teams have plenty of stroke-makers, but considering the conditions, perhaps the crowd that should turn up in large numbers on Tuesday won’t witness a flurry of fours and sixes, keeping the conditions in mind. However, even a low-scoring match can turn out to be as exciting as a run-feast, if not more. And on the eve of Diwali, the people in Lucknow will be anticipating an evenly-contested match. Squad: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, K Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem. West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite (c), Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Oshane Thomas Match starts 7 pm IST.