India and West Indies meet today at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in an epic semi-final clash in the ICC World T20. West Indies have been in phenomenal form in the tournament but suffered a setback when they encountered a shocking defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in their last group stage match.
India on the other hand, have been scratchy and have ridden their luck or momentary brilliance to make it to the semis. India will be heavily reliant on their star batsman Virat Kohli as the Windies would be on Gayle. All in all, this promises to be an epic encounter.
Here is the India-West Indies combined XI for the match.
Chris Gayle
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All eyes will be on Chris Gayle when the West Indies set out to bat. Gayle has been one of the most popular players among the Indian fans thanks to some of the bombastic innings he has played for the RCB in the IPL. Even during the T20 World Cup, Indian fans were heard cheering for him and supporting him.
Gayle will, however, have no support from the Indian fans today as the entire country knows that he can single-handedly power the Windies into the final. India loves to witness a Gayle storm but will hope that it does not hit Wankhede today of all days.
Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma has been woefully out of form in the T20 World Cup and has let his fans down big time. But having a reputation for being a big match player, he might just turn things around in the high-profile semi-final.
Sharma will have the added benefit of playing on his home turf where he has played quite a few good knocks for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL. The Indian opener knows the Wankhede pitch like the back of his hand. With the pitch having a reputation of being a batting paradise, he is expected to score some big runs today.
Virat Kohli
What can one say about Virat Kohli that has not already been said after that superlative knock against Australia? The Indian vice-captain has gone from strength to strength over the last few years; becoming the backbone of the Indian batting line-up in the T20 World Cup. Time and again, he has dug India out of trouble and rightfully earning the tag of “saviour” of the team.
Kohli boasts of an unreal batting average of over 120 in successful T20I run chases for India and will once again be India's main man today. Sammy has joked about not taking Rohit and Dhawan's wicket to stop Kohli from batting against them. One only hopes that the other Indian batsmen also stand up and support him today.
Marlon Samuels
Not only is Samuels one of the most experienced Windies' batsmen, but also another West Indian power-hitters who can decimate the opposition if he gets going. The Jamaican clearing his left leg to slash the ball through the off-side is a treat to watch when he is on song.
Though he has not quite set the tournament on fire, he remains a dangerous batsman once he starts to tee off. He can be vulnerable against spin or the swinging ball early on in his innings and India would be trying to capitalise on that today. Once he gets in, he can make a mockery of the opposition bowlers.
Dwayne Bravo
One of the most accomplished all-rounders in the shortest version of the game, Bravo is an asset to have in any T20 team. Someone who has been immensely successful in franchise-based cricket around the world, Bravo knows extremely well how to dominate T20 matches.
The Trinidadian can be a dangerous finisher and is known for his power-hitting down the order. He has a wide range of shots. He can effortlessly play the lofted drive through the off-side or just muscle the ball on the leg.
The former CSK star is also a very canny bowler at the death who bowls accurate yorkers and slow cutters making it very difficult to score off him.
MS Dhoni
Like him or not, over the years Dhoni has been the finisher extraordinaire for India. His contribution as a captain and the amount of laurels he has won for India can never be quantified. In the last stage of his career, Dhoni looks fitter and more hungry to score runs.
Dhoni also brings the much-needed calm to the batting order. Amidst a group of failing batsmen, Dhoni has been the only bright spot apart from Virat Kohli with the duo stringing together a couple of crucial match-winning partnerships. In spite of the onslaught of age, Dhoni's ability to accelerate at the death and finish matches still remains second to none.
Hardik Pandya
India seem to have finally found a fast bowling all-rounder in Hardik Pandya. Though a tad inconsistent and guilty of bowling too short at times, Pandya has emerged as the surprise package with reasonably good performances even on spin-friendly tracks.
The fact that he has been preferred over the third spinner throughout the tournament shows the amount of faith Dhoni has in him. Against Bangladesh, he bowled that famous last over to ensure the unlikeliest of victories for India. Even in the last match against Australia, he did a reasonably good job until he conceded 10 runs off the last two balls of his spell.
Pandya's biggest plus point is that he picks wickets. Add to that the fact that he can be a clean hitter down the order, he becomes an all so valuable asset to the team.
Darren Sammy
Though a lot of people questioned his ability in the longest version of the game, few can doubt Darren Sammy's potential once it comes to T20 cricket. Another of the stellar all-rounders who make the West indies such a dangerous T20 outfit, Sammy is universally loved for being a captain with a big heart.
His ability to hit the ball a mile which makes him a very dangerous batsman at the death. Sammy also doubles up as a more than useful bowler who can bowl fast as well as vary his pace to clamp down on the scoring when batsmen are looking to attack him.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin had a rare bad day and disappeared quite a bit against the Aussies even though he managed to pick the all-important wicket of Warner in the last game. But he remains Dhoni's trump card in crunch situations. Whenever it comes to needing wickets or cutting down the flow of runs, Dhoni more often than not turns to Ashwin.
The highly-skilled and clever bowler will also arguably be India's main weapon against Gayle. It will not be surprising if Dhoni decides to bowl Ashwin in the powerplay to pick the prized wicket of Gayle today. A Gayle versus Ashwin battle will be enticing and is something that all cricket fans are looking forward to.
Samuel Badree
Samuel Badree had big shoes to fill coming in as a replacement for Sunil Narine. In four game, he has certainly not done a bad job at all. He did leak runs against England but against Sri Lanka, the leg-spinner did a splendid job coming away with figures of 4-0-12-3. Against Afghanistan, his figures of 4-0-14-3 look even more unreal.
Badree has been doing a good job of not just containing the batsmen during the middle overs but also picking up wickets. He has struck up a crucial bowling partnership with Benn and the duo have been difficult to score against.
About replacing Narine for the tournament, Badree said, "Yes, we have talked about someone having to step up the fill those huge shoes. I am happy thus far in the tournament I was able to do that quite competently."
Jasprit Bumrah
Desperately in need of producing more quality fast bowlers, Bumrah has been the answer to India's fast bowling woes. With an unconventional action to go with good pace, Bumrah has troubled batsmen ever since he burst on to the scene in India's tour to Australia.
But his biggest asset is his death bowling. He comes back in the dying stages to execute perfect yorkers and well-disguised slower deliveries to deceive batsmen. His bowling at the death has been one of the important contributing factors for India's success so far in the tournament. It would be interesting to see what plans he comes up with against Chris Gayle and co. today.
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