Florida: After the disappointment of the fourth Test which was washed away due to rain, the madness shifts from Tests to T20 as India take on the West Indies for the first T20 on August 27. It will be India’s first international game on the US soil.
Coach Kumble in a press conference admitted that it won’t be easy for India against the current world champions who have a squad filled with players fresh from Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Captain Dhoni and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah are the only players to join the squad as the rest of the 12 members were the part of the Test series. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the squad shed off their Test mode and power the required fire work for the shortest version of the game.
On the other side, West Indies have a squad filled with hard hitters and players who came up with good performances during the recently concluded CPL. With the likes of Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle opening the batting and looking to attack from the word go, the Indian bowlers will have to be on their toes. With the big names like Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, S.Badree and Sunil Narine, they no doubt have the “team to beat”.
Here we bring before you the players to watch out for in the T20 matches:
Virat Kohli: He currently heads the ICC Player Rankings for T20I Batsmen. Kohli has been in the form of his life in the shortest format recently as he was named as Player-of-the-Tournament in the World T20 held in India earlier this year and won the orange cap for amassing the most runs of 973 in 16 matches in the just-concluded IPL-9. With four tons in 2016 IPL season, he entered record books by becoming the only player in tournament’s history to hit four tons in a single season. If he gets going, West Indies will find it tough to snatch the match away from India.
Jasprit Bumrah: The death bowling specialist known for his brisk Yorkers, the young Mumbai Indians bowler will look to contain the hard hitting West Indian batsmen. He has done immensely well in the in the short version of the game in recent times and he will be a player to watch out for in the game.
Andre Russel: The West Indian all-rounder scored a smoking 44 balls 100 in the finals of the CPL (2016). The hard hitting all rounder proves lethal with the ball as well. With the experience of playing on the US soil, he is definitely the player to watch out for.
DJ Bravo: He was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded CPL. Known for his slower balls and death bowling ability, with every wicket and a catch you will get to see a new dance step from the player. He is another player to watch out for in the West Indies squad.
