SKY, Tilak to rescue India once again?

India were supposed to find answers to a few questions in these five T20Is against West Indies, but three games into the series, the Men in Blue have found out they are far from forming a settled unit. Some senior members haven’t played this format since the last T20 World Cup, but not many youngsters have delivered convincing performances.

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are out of the mix for now. However, the likes of Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan haven't been consistent enough to confirm their spots. And the same could also be said about Sanju Samson and Axar Patel. The bowling will look more sorted once Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are back, but even they won’t contribute much with the bat, which has been the problem with the Indian side for like ever.

India have been playing with four No. 11s in this series, which played a major role in them losing the first two encounters. In the third T20I, Suryakumar Yadav did his thing and helped India stay alive in the series, but this is not something we haven’t seen in the past. The emergence of Tilak Varma has been the biggest positive for Hardik Pandya and Co., and his pairing with SKY will help India in many ways in the future.

Meanwhile, West Indies have played way better than many expected them to and are still leading 2-1 in the series. Nicholas Pooran and skipper Rovman Powell have been on fire, while their bowlers have also done well as a unit. The action now shifts to Florida for the last two T20Is, with both teams wanting to finish the series on a high. These two games will also give everyone a glimpse of what we could witness in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Things to watch out for

SKY and Tilak together are gold

India chased down a target of 160 in the third T20I with utmost ease, but that wouldn’t have happened without Suryakumar and Tilak’s fiery 87-run partnership. The former smashed 83 off 44, while Tilak slammed an unbeaten 49. The young left-hander, in particular, has been in terrific form in this debut series. The 20-year-old has scores of 39, 51 and 49* in his first three innings, and India now have two batters who can completely dominate the middle-over phase.

In the last encounter, we saw what these two have been doing for Mumbai Indians for the last two years. The two have batted together in 11 innings and have scored 466 runs at an average of 46.6 and a strike rate of 147.9. One is a right-hander, and the other is a left-hander, allowing them to dominate all bowling types. These two become even more important if you look at how poor the other Indian batters have been in this series. 

Hetmyer continues to struggle

It hasn’t been a happy homecoming for Shimron Hetmyer. Since returning for West Indies, the left-hander has managed scores of 11, 9, 4, 10, 22 and 9. The 26-year-old didn’t do much in the ODI series and is now averaging 13.67 at a strike rate of 97.62 in the ongoing T20I series. Hetmyer has especially struggled against spin in T20Is, averaging just 18.6. Overall as well, he has an average of 20.44 and a strike rate of 117.2 in T20Is, which is nowhere close to what he has delivered in franchise cricket. 

Ground details and conditions

Coincidentally, the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill hasn’t hosted a single T20 since India and West Indies played each other twice in two days in August last year. It’s been more than a year since the venue hosted a competitive match, and we can only rely on those numbers. The first thing to notice is 11 of the 13 T20Is played in Lauderhill have been won by the side batting first.

If you look at those last two T20Is, India smashed scores of 191 and 188 after batting first, while West Indies could only get 132 and 100, respectively, in the second innings. Both teams have preferred batting first in this series, and the trend is likely to continue in the remaining two games. Moreover, the spinners (average 19.4, strike rate 16.8 and economy 6.9) here have better numbers than fast bowlers (average 25.1, strike rate 18.4 and economy 8.2). 

Tactical Nous

Pooran has been West Indies’ best batter this series, but the left-hander has found it tough against Kuldeep Yadav. He only has a strike rate of 109.5 against the left-arm wrist-spinner, which is his worst against any Indian bowler (minimum 10 deliveries faced). It was Kuldeep who dismissed him in the previous game. 

Overall, Kuldeep has also dismissed Pooran three times in the space of 42 deliveries. On top of that, he has gone at an economy of less than six against him in this format. Against Pandya, too, Pooran has a strike rate of just 102.3 in T20s. 

Probable XIs

West Indies - Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase/Jason Holder (if fit), Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy.

India - Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar/Avesh Khan.