India vs West Indies 4th T20I: Adaptability the key for India at high-scoring Lauderhill

Amid constant chopping and changing and experimentations, India batters have struggled to get going in the ongoing five-match T20I series against the West Indies in which the Men in Blue trail 1-2 after three games. The challenge for Hardik Pandya and Co is only going to become tougher as the cricket bandwagon moves from Guyana to the USA.

The last two T20Is of the series will take place in Lauderhill in Florida.

Apart from a change of venue, the conditions are expected to differ significantly. While the par score on the slow pitches of Guyana and Trinidad hovered around 150-160, the average first innings score for Central Broward Stadium is 165.

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In fact, it’s the same stadium where in 2016 KL Rahul made a heroic 110 not out as India suffered an agonising one-run defeat to West Indies in a high-scoring game. West Indies had scored 245/6 batting first and India were restricted on 244/4.

Thus it’s clear that the ball will come quickly onto the bat in Lauderhill as compared to what we have witnessed so far in West Indies and that means Indian batters who had been in West Indies for over one month would have to quickly adapt to fast conditions in Florida.

The sluggish nature of the tracks in the West Indies had been touted as the biggest reason for Indian batters not finding their form so far in the series. Apart from Tilak Varma, who made his debut in the first T20I and has scored 139 runs in three matches including a fifty, all Indian batters failed to get going in the first two matches, with West Indies winning both the games.

In the third T20I, Suryakumar Yadav struck a magnificent 83 off 44 balls to keep India’s hopes alive and secure a seven-wicket win.

Read | Ingenious India and brilliant SKY fightback to stay alive in T20Is

Still, for India, who have adopted the strategy to play only seven batters including the all-rounders, five of them are still out of form, and how they adapt to change in conditions will be key to how India do in the fourth T20I.

Remember, a defeat on Saturday will mean West Indies winning the series with a game to go.

It could also very well happen that a faster track may work in India’s favour, but West Indies also consists of some fearsome big-hitters so the contest is only going to get more intriguing.

Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, and Brandon King have been in good form and the Windies would once again bank on them for runs.

West Indies have not beaten India in a bilateral T20I series since 2017 and it’s a good opportunity for them to break the drought.

They however would need to neutralise the Kudeep Yadav threat who has already picked four wickets in two games.

At Lauderhill, India have a superior record to West Indies, having won four out of six matches. West Indies won one while the other ended in no result.

Match details and LIVE streaming: The 4th T20I between India and West Indies will take place on Saturday (12 August) at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida. The match will start at 8 PM IST.

The match will be telecast across the Doordarshan Network, including DD National and DD Sports. The match will also be streamed LIVE on Fancode and JioCinema. You can also follow LIVE scores on firstpost.com.

Squads:

India: Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar

West Indies: Rovman Powell, Kyle Mayers, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas