Cricket

    India v West Indies, with World Cup and series spots on the line

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    India v West Indies, with World Cup and series spots on the line

    India v West Indies, with World Cup and series spots on the line: Despite cricket making its ties with Florida, it has only been 12 years. This weekend, India and West Indies will play two T20Is in Florida. With different reasons, though, there are no other matches played between “full members” to date.

    India v West Indies, with World Cup and series spots on the line: Despite cricket making its ties with Florida, it has only been 12 years.
    Credit: Newswwc

    If the two teams can put on what they did six years ago, when one team had 245 batsmen and the other 244, then Florida will establish itself as a cricketing outpost. With so many immigrants from their parts of the world in America’s Sunshine state, these two are ideal teams to draw crowds to.

    India’s Twenty20 World Cup squad selection will be made next week. For the two teams playing today, these matches are a last chance for players to show their skills for this position to help prepare for the World Cup. It should be a good test for Arshdeep Singh and R Ashwin on a large ground as they battle it out to secure that back-up spot.

    Though the West Indies recognize their best combination, they have to play in qualification matches at the World Cup. The team lacks Andre Russell due to injury and Sunil Narine is absent due to selection considerations as well as four other players who are also an unknown. With the series on the line, these relatively unknown players have an opportunity to make the squad.

    In the time available for this year’s World Cup, Deepak Hooda has performed well despite the fact that he’s been stuck on the bench. He still has time to make a roster change, and may find himself in the first-choice XI should there be any injuries or player slumps during the tournament.

    Hardik Pandya, who mostly countered the bowlers in the Indian team, bowled a slower ball and it was difficult to score consistently. Ashwin introduced his offspin strategy while dismissing Pooran. Then, they will have to figure out a way to counter such strategies, with some grip in the surface.

    The focus will be on Rohit Sharma’s fitness after he retired hurt with back spasms in the third T20I. This has forced him to miss more matches than he has played as captain and India will not want to risk a serious injury so close to the World Cup. He will play only if fully confident of his fitness. On the bowling front, India could go full-strength by picking Harshal Patel over Avesh Khan, who has performed poorly throughout the series.

    India:

    Rohit Sharma

    Suryakumar Yadav

    Shreyas Iyer

    Rishabh Pant

    Hardik Pandya

    Dinesh Karthik

    Ravindra Jadeja

    Harshal Patel

    R Ashwin

    Yuzvendra Chahal

    Arshdeep Singh

    The West Indies are likely to stick with a bowling allrounder, Dominic Drakes, in place of the batting allrounder Odean Smith. They might also make this change by calling up Smith for the catching duties at the expense of Devon Thomas’s position.

    West Indies:

    Kyle Mayers

    Brandon King

    Nicholas Pooran

    Shimron Hetmyer

    Rovman Powell

    Devon Thomas

    Jason Holder

    Akeal Hosein

    Dominic Drakes

    Alzarri Joseph

    Obed McCoy

    There is no threat of rain during play, but the boundaries are small, so there is good value for shots. The pitch can often be a surprise for cricket pitches that aren’t used to hosting international matches.

    Although Sri Lanka has recently strengthened their team, losing in a bilateral series against India is extremely rare and it happened back in early 2019.

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