Georgetown (Guyana): After losing the T20I series narrowly by four runs to the West Indies in Trinidad, India will be aiming to put up a better show in the batting department when they face West Indies in the second T20I at the Providence Stadium here on Sunday.
The pitch was slow and not easy to bat at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, but young left-handed batter Tilak Varma shone brightly on debut. After scintillating performances in IPL 2022 and 2023 as well as in domestic cricket took him to the national team, Varma slammed two beautiful sixes on facing his first three balls in international cricket.
With the likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson all struggling to get going in the opening T20I, Varma showed fearlessness of youth and looked at ease during his 22-ball 39, providing a good glimpse into a possibly glorious future.
In the first T20I, one can argue that India not having players who can hit boundaries in the lower order did hurt them in their inability to go over the line, especially with the tail starting from number eight, causing the balance of the playing eleven to go a bit off.
With less than 12 months to go for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies and the USA, the performances of various players in the Indian team during this series assume huge importance when being selected for the mega event in the shortest format of the game.
The pitches in Guyana have been on the slower side, which means the importance of spinners and pacers with a repertoire of slower deliveries go up, though scattered thunderstorms have been predicted to cause an interruption in Sunday’s clash.
West Indies, who managed to win mainly due to Jason Holder’s superb spell of 2-19 and Romario Shepherd defending 10 runs in the final over, could look to add another spinner to support Akeal Hosein.
With the bat, they would expect a better show from others to give ample support to Nicholas Pooran and captain Rovman Powell, the top two run-scorers for them in the first T20I to add another win to the current 1-0 series scoreline.
Squads:
India: Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya (captain), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
West Indies: Rovman Powell (captain), Kyle Mayers (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas
(IANS)
