The second T20 international between India and West Indies takes place on Sunday afternoon with the home nation looking to secure the series with a match to spare, while the world champions will look to force a decider.
Thiruvananthapuram hosts the match which will be the second time it has staged T20 international cricket, with plenty of eyes on the ground and the pitch to see if we can get a repeat of the high scoring match the first game was.
India
When you concede more than 200 with the ball your performance can never be described as perfect, but actually when you look down the list at the quality on show in the opposing batting line up, I don’t think India will have been too disappointed with their display in Hyderabad. Clearly there is improvement to come from them, but there usually is after the first game of a series so they should be absolutely fine with that.
The positive for India from that opening match, as I guess it is going to be throughout this limited overs tour of West Indies, was their batting, which not only put up a massive total to chase down a decent target, but it did so under a fair amount of pressure which is never a bad thing. If they tighten up with the ball, India will be confident of continuing this winning run they are currently in the middle of.
West Indies
On the flip side for the West Indies, their weakness was brutally exposed in the first game and you kind of wonder where there is for them to go from here as a result. They got taken apart with the ball in hand, and to be fair they put up a massive total with the bat so it isn’t as though there is a lot more to come from them in that regard. They simply have to find a way to contain things better, but whether they have the resources for that remains to be seen.
If West Indies can find a way to keep things a little tighter when they have the ball in their hands then we have seen throughout the world that they have the power to chase any score down or set daunting targets. One area of concern might just be the captaincy of Kieron Pollard. He has never really impressed with that in the CPL and the early stages of his tenure as West Indies skipper has left plenty to be desired.
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Team News
India don’t usually go about making too many changes while series are still alive so I certainly don’t expect wholesale ones here. They might think about bringing Kuldeep Yadav into the frame with this ground favouring the spinner.
West Indies need to do something with their bowling attack and with Kesrick Williams having gone round the park he could be the one most vulnerable. Fabian Allen could replace him if he is fit. Nicholas Pooran is expected to take the gloves now his suspension is over.
Betting
Runs came quite easily for both sides in the opening match but I would be surprised if they are as naturally available in this contest as we are on a much different wicket here. In the two international matches on this ground – an ODI and a T20 match – spin has played key roles and the pitch has been very slow and sluggish, which isn’t likely to help run scoring.
The run line for this one is 325.5 which just looks a touch on the higher side to me. West Indies actually played in that ODI and were shot out for just over 100 which won’t be giving them much confidence. Clearly West Indies are better on pitches where the ball comes onto the bat a little and with that in mind, I’ll play the under on the run line.
Tips
Back Under 325.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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