The West Indies return to one of the scenes of their greatest triumphs on Sunday afternoon when they go to Eden Gardens to take on India in the first of three T20 internationals, looking to salvage something from their tour.
India will be out to show their worth in this format of the game and prove that there is life after a couple of their marquee players so this first game in particular is set up to be something of a cracking contest.
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India
The Indians struggled to come out on top in the early stages of the ODI series but ultimately they proved too good in the end and they will be looking to carry that winning feeling forward when they enter the T20 series. They have chosen to rest a couple of their star players ahead of the upcoming tour of Australia so it will be interesting to see how that effects them here.
Generally in the IPL we see some wonderful Indian bowlers coming through the ranks and a couple of them are expected to get their chance in this contest but it is the explosive batsmen who are showcasing their skills which makes India a potentially exciting side. They don’t lose many matches at home and will be looking to finish this leg strong.
West Indies
It has been an up and down tour for the West Indies so far. They offered no resistance at all in the Test matches and then became competitive in the early stages of the ODI series before collapsing in the last two games so they have one more chance to highlight their skills and come away with something. This is probably their best chance too given their natural strengths in this format.
We saw in the recent Caribbean Premier League that there are some strong batsmen coming through in the West Indies and we’ll see a number of them in these three matches. What we need to see is something with the ball and if we do then you could even make the tourists favourites for the series given their firepower.
Team News
There is no Virat Kohli for this match and as has been heavily publicised MS Dhoni has been left out too. Rishabh Pant replaces Dhoni while KL Rahul is expected to come in for Kohli. Krunal Pandya could be in line for his international debut.
West Indies will be without Andre Russell for this series. He was expected to feature but injury has apparently ruled him out. Kieron Pollard does return. Shimrom Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford have the chance to catapult themselves into IPL deals.
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Betting
I think West Indies will be much more competitive in these matches and there is a clear case to be made for them winning this match. I’ll wait to check how competitive their youngsters are with the bat before I get involved in them but I certainly won’t be surprised to see them win.
The obvious bet here though is for more than 12.5 sixes. There is a lot more pace and bounce in the Eden Gardens strip these days which allows for the batsmen to hit through the line with more confidence. That in turn sees the big hits flow. We’ve seen how many sixes these two sides have hit in the ODI series and I’m expecting them to keep coming here.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
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