India vs West Indies: Hope in Windies camp as big boys return

KOLKATA: The Test series was over in a jiffy with West Indies losing both matches inside three days. The Caribbeans came back strongly in the ODIs after losing the first game. They levelled the series 1-1 by tying the second and winning the third before fizzling out in the last two to lose the series 1-3.

The visitors are expected to fare much better in the shortest format of the game in which they are the reigning world champions. West Indies are also the only team to have won the ICC World T20 title twice. The Caribbeans would love to make a statement once again at the venue where they had won the World T20 two years back when they take on India in the first of the three-match T20 series at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Incidentally this is the first T20 series to be held in India this year.

With regular skipper Virat Kohli and ex-skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni missing the series and West Indies squad boosted by the inclusion of T20 specialists like Kieron Pollard, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo and skipper Carlos Brathwaite, it promises to be a keen contest. Young Shimron Hetmeyar, who displayed red-hot form in the ODIs will be another player to watch out for.


West Indies are also ahead of India in the numbers game. The Caribbeans enjoy a 5-2 head-to-head record against India in T20Is. India's last win against the Windies came way back on March 23, 2014 in the World T20 in Bangladesh.

As per the latest ICC rankings, India, however, are way ahead of the Windies. The home team is currently ranked No. 2, while their rivals have slipped to No. 7. The year too has not gone well for West Indies, who have only won two of the nine T20 Internationals so far. West Indies coach Stuart Law made an interesting comment at the end of the ODI series, saying "the two games at Vizag and Pune took a lot out of us. We had no petrol left in the tank for the last two games." However, the inclusion of the T20 specialists gives West Indies new hope and they will be hoping to make a fresh start.


Most of the top West Indies players have honed their skills in the IPL which means they will have little difficulty in adapting to the conditions and venues.

The series is also important for the Indians who will be taking on Australia in a similar series Down Under, two weeks from now. The team management is likely to fine-tune a few areas before the tour. Even without Kohli and Dhoni - two of the biggest names in Indian cricket - the home side boasts enough firepower to usher in an early Diwali. On Friday, former South African skipper Graeme Smith singled out Rishabh Pant as one of the most exciting young talents to emerge from India in recent times. With the selectors giving Dhoni a break, it will be interesting to see how well Pant uses this opportunity to cement his place in the team.

The Indian team management announced their preferred XII on the eve of Sunday's showdown, leaving out Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav and Shreyas Iyer thereby raising the possibility of all-rounder Krunal Pandya making his T20 debut.