India vs West Indies 3rd T20: Openers likely to take centre-stage

West Indies chased down 171 with relative ease in the second T20I against India at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday which kept the series alive, making the final T20I of the series in Mumbai the deciding one.

Read | India vs West Indies 2^nd T20I: Five things we learned

The match will be played at the Wankhede stadium, a ground known for its high-scoring encounters. The average first-innings score for a T20 game is 187, and teams chasing have ended up victorious in five out of six T20Is. 

The ground offers familiar conditions for several players from both teams- Rohit Sharma captains the Mumbai-based franchise in the Indian T20 League and has played most of his domestic cricket here as have Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube.

For the West Indies, skipper Kieron Pollard plies his trade in Mumbai’s team in the Indian T20 League and so, knows the pitch and ground like the back of his hand. Openers Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons have also played for Mumbai in the past, and their records at Wankhede is something that India should be wary of.

Lewis and Simmons’ excellent records at the Wankhede

Evin Lewis enjoys an enviable record against India- scoring 322 runs in eight matches at a strike-rate of 173.11, which is the highest for batsmen with more than 200 T20I runs against India. He also has two T20I centuries vs India, making him the only batsman to have multiple centuries against an opponent in T20Is.

He seems to like the Wankhede pitch too, as three of his top six innings in all T20s in India have come at the venue.

The other Windies opener, Lendl Simmons also has a terrific record in India in T20Is. His famous 82 in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in 2016 against India is his highest score in T20Is, which came at the Wankhede.

He averages 52.66 in five matches in India, his best in any country and has a strike-rate of 141.07, his second-best in any country. At the Wankhede, he has scored 482 runs, his third-highest aggregate at a particular ground, and averages 37.07, second-highest at a ground.

Lewis and Simmons also enjoy the third and fourth-best averages of any batsmen with at least eight innings against India in T20Is, making them the most important wickets if India hopes to close out the series.

KL Rahul looks good to fire at the top

KL Rahul, who made an important 62 off 40 balls as India chased down 207 in the first T20I at Hyderabad, is India’s answer to the West Indies at the top as he enjoys many personal bests against the team from the Caribbean.

In seven innings against them in T20Is, he has scored 262 runs at an average of 52.4, his highest aggregate runs and average against a particular team. He is also one among six batsmen to have a 50+ average vs West Indies, a list which includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Colin Munro.

At the Wankhede stadium, Rahul has 246 runs in five innings in all T20 innings, his fifth-highest aggregate at a particular ground. He also averages 61.5, his highest of all venues. 

Read | How effective are India’s T20I all-rounders?

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Noah Seelam