West Indies vs India - Second T20I preview

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  • Will champions Dwayne Bravo & Co. win again at Lauderhill?

    Venue: Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Florida | Date & Time: 28 August at 1700 (GST)

    Following a dramatic final-ball victory for the hosts on Saturday, here’s a look at what could be in store for Sunday’s clash.

    BIG PICTURE

    There was a moment during Saturday’s game when Evin Lewis stood on the cusp of equalling a record that the man calling the action had himself achieved, albeit in domestic cricket. Having hit five sixes in five balls, Lewis’ enormous heave was unsuccessful in bringing a record sixth, but it was good enough.

    It was interesting to note how the West Indian batting seemed to lose their appetite for a truly massive score after Lewis and fellow opener Johnson Charles had electrified Florida with their whirlwind batting. At one stage it looked like 300 was on the cards, but the rest of the line-up could not maintain the intensity.

    Perhaps this is an ominous sign of what the Indians can do to rattle the cages of the world champions in the second game of the series on Sunday.

    But then West Indies won by a solitary run. Once again, no target looked to be beyond the Indians as Rohit Sharma demonstrated, despite his struggles in Test cricket, that his place is in the shorter formats.

    Mahendra Singh Dhoni led another glorious, though ultimately failed late surge, and Lokesh Rahul weighed in with a ton that went in vain.

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    Dwayne Bravo’s concession of six runs in the final over proved to be enough. It was a clutch performance after Rahul and Dhoni swung the match back India’s way, from an over that needed just eight runs to win the match.

    As a consequence, the West Indies lead the series and will head into the second game feeling far more relaxed and more confident. Skipper Carlos Brathwaite, too, will be pleased to have snatched a last-ball victory in his first game.

    If this match is anything to go by, another avalanche of sixes should soon cover the sunshine state. But India, who must recover from late heartbreak and face a pitch a day after it has been played upon, have some challenges to negotiate if they are to level the series.

    KEY BATTLES

    West Indies middle-order vs Jasprit Bumrah: He may have gone for 47 runs from his four overs, but Jasprit Bumrah was successful in dislodging the middle-order with two wickets and a run-out.

    It was thanks in part to him that the brakes were applied on the West Indies’ march to a truly gargantuan total, and should the top-order fail to replicate their display from the previous game, Bumrah’s yorkers could put men like Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons under serious pressure.

    Indian batting vs Dwayne Bravo: Even as the deadly Sunil Narine was clobbered for 50 runs from his three overs, Bravo did not fail to produce a nerveless death bowling performance to deny the Indians victory. In fact, were it not for a spilled catch by Marlon Samuels off the first ball of the final over, victory could have been sealed much earlier.

    Wickets are unlikely to fall in huge numbers (only 10 of them fell on Saturday) and therefore containment becomes the route to success. Bravo’s figures of 4-0-37-2 look encouraging in that context.

    WATCH OUT FOR

    Ever since the IPL started KL Rahul has been in red hot form

    KL Rahul has been in red hot form right throughout this year

    Lokesh Rahul: He may have cultivated a rock-star image, not dissimilar to the previous avatar of his captain, and his play may still carry a manic edge, but Rahul is gradually turning into a pretty bankable bet in all three formats of the game for India.

    After Virat Kohli fell in the previous game, Rahul took his side to the brink of victory with a bold century – his first in T20Is. Watch out for more when he takes the field again on Sunday.

    TEAMS

    Lewis’ storming 48-ball century should guarantee his retention for at least another game. A possible return for Gayle, however, could complicate matters somewhat. Otherwise, this is the West Indies’ strongest line-up, and shouldn’t change drastically after contributions from all areas in the last game.

    Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher (wk), Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine

    The bowlers had to suffer the brunt of Charles and Lewis’ merriment and it is difficult to pin the blame on them per se. The hapless Stuart Binny, however, may have been carted not just for 32 runs but also out of the team.

    Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Lokesh Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

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