Virat Kohli and his men will aim to continue their unbeaten start to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup when they take on West Indies on Thursday, June 27, at a packed Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. While India have been spectacular so far at the World Cup, Windies have failed to register a win after their opening game demolition of Pakistan and need a victory to stay alive in the competition.
It took a brilliant final over hattrick by Mohammed Shami to get the Indian team over the line in a thrilling contest against Afghanistan. That game exposed a few frailties of the Indian middle-order as a few quick wickets forced Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav to play cautiously. India’s batting innings thus ended with a subpar score of 224. However, the pace battery of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami hit the right notes on the night and will be key to India’s defence against the Windies. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was economical but failed to pick up any wickets and heading into Manchester, he would be aiming to get amongst the wickets column.
West Indies have blown hot and cold at this World Cup, with either their bowlers or batsmen performing below expectations after their first game heroics. Chris Gayle and Carlos Braithwaite will aim to carry on from their previous game performance against New Zealand, where they almost got their side across despite most of the batsmen failing to deliver. On the bowling front, Sheldon Cottrell has been the marquee pacer and heading into Thursday, he’d hope for the likes of Jason Holder and Oshane Thomas to bring the best to the field.
India start the game as firm favourites due to their balanced team with in-form batsmen like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli leading from the front. Nevertheless, the Men in Maroon cannot be underestimated, with batsmen like Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer capable of destroying any bowling attack on their day. In the other camp, India would have a selection headache choosing between hattrick man Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was seen training earlier in the week. Also, either of Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant could be brought into the fray in place of Vijay Shankar to stabilize the middle-order.
Feature image courtesy: Cricket World Cup/ Twitter
