India vs West Indies: Batters in focus with an eye on T20 World Cup

Tilak Verma produced a glimpse into the future with two sixes in three balls as India chased and were below run a ball at the stage against West Indies in the first T20I. With less than a year into the T20 World Cup, on these shores, it would have pleased the Indian management.

That, however, was probably the only highlight for an Indian batting that looked listless in the defeat at Brian Lara Stadium. It wasn’t the easiest track but you would expect a lineup of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson to get the visitors to 150 runs against a beleagured unit.

Oddly enough, India seemingly fielded four No. 11s in their playing XI which always put the onus, and added pressure, on the top 7 to get the job done. So after Axar Patel fell, with India needing 37 runs from 27 balls, the job looked bigger than it should have. Arshdeep Singh did give Windies a scare.

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The visitors might want to count this as a one off, the way they did for the second ODI, but these matches mattery plenty in the grand scheme of things. With that in mind, it is important for Kishan, Gill and Samson to show they can deliver on slow, low conditions in this part of the world.

With the action shifting to the Providence Stadium in Guyana, the pitches are not going to be different. The last time West Indies played here, against Bangladesh, spin proved crucial and the batters struggled to get into the thick of things. Objective, for either team, will be to do better than a par score.

A win today and West Indies would pick up consecutive T20I wins over India for the first time since 2016. But with just four runs separating the teams in the first T20I, it is not expected to be easy.