West Indies vs India: T20 Preview

In what promises to be a contest between two teams trying to prove a point there can be no shortage of motivation. A depleted Indian team will lock horns with a struggling West Indies side in the one-off T20 international on Saturday.

The Indian team without the services of senior cricketers MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan,Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir will look upon the youngsters to deliver and establish themselves in the team. The West Indies team on the other hand will be without the leading run scorer of IPL, Chris Gayle, big hitting Kieron Pollard and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. The captain Darren Sammy himself is doubtful for the Saturday game after he sustained a lower back injury.

The Indian team will look up to Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel who are most likely to open the batting to provide them with a good start. The middle order seems to be pretty settled with Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The slow and low pitches in the West Indies will favor the spin trio of Ashwin, Harbhajan and Mishra.The West Indies team looks unsettled with only Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo making a mark in the recent series with Pakistan. The bowling department tooseems overly dependent on Ravi Rampaul and Devendra Bishoo to deliver.

Though, West Indies only had an average tour with Pakistan they are by no means pushovers. The Indian team will have to work hard for their runs with the whole of the West Indies team being outstanding fielders. With two debutants and a whole bunch of inexperienced youngsters in the team the Indian team will sorely miss the captaincy of MS Dhoni. One can only hope that Raina can emulate the brilliance of his IPL teammate.

Having played the format over the last two months in the IPL, the Indian team will clearly have an edge over handling the pressure and will start as clear favorites to win the match. But if the IPL has taught us anything, it is on a given day any team can beat any other team. The Indian team has their task cut out and need to play better cricket to outclass the hosts.

Teams:

West Indies:Darren Sammy (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo,Andre Fletcher, Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons

India:Suresh Raina (captain), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain),Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ishant Sharma,Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.