The West Indies were the T20 world champions in Sri Lanka four years ago and put up a spirited defence of their title in the last tournament where they were sent packing in a rain affected semi-final. Few sides boast the tournament pedigree that they do in 20 over cricket in recent times.
Form
I don’t think you can necessarily look at bare form numbers for the West Indies for a couple of reasons. Firstly quite often their players miss international games for the various leagues around the world and secondly they have so many internal issues they don’t always care about bilateral series.
One concern going into this tournament is that they have only played two proper T20I since January last year but that is only a minor concern. These guys probably play more domestic leagues than players from any other country. They defeated Australia in a warm up match at the weekend.
Key men
Obviously we can’t have a key men section and not include Chris Gayle. The self-proclaimed World Boss is used to playing in India in the Indian Premier League and the pitches in the early stages should suit him. He loves hitting through the line of the ball and he’ll be able to do that. If he finds form early in the tournament that spells trouble for the rest.
Andre Russell is probably the best all-rounder in this format of the game. He is a fearless batsman who can tonk a ball far enough to clear any boundaries anywhere in the world and he has come on leaps and bounds with the ball too. Throw into the mix he’s a gun fielder and we have the best 3D cricketer in the world right now.
Fixtures
Wed Mar 16 – Super 10 Group 1: England vs West Indies (Mumbai)
Sun Mar 20 – Super 10 Group 1: Sri Lanka vs West Indies (Bangalore)
Fri Mar 25 – Super 10 Group 1: South Africa vs West Indies (Nagpur)
Sun Mar 27 – Super 10 Group 1: Afghanistan vs West Indies (Nagpur)
Stats
Overall T20I record: P71 W33 L33 T3 NR2
Last 10 results (most recent last): WLLWNRWWLLW
Record against group opponents:
Vs Afghanistan: Never met
Vs England: P12 W8 L4
Vs South Africa: P9 W3 L6
Vs Sri Lanka: P8 W2 L6
Record batting first: P39 W20 L17 T2
Record batting second: P32 W13 L16 T1 NR2
Odds
Tournament odds: 12/1 (General)
Group 1 odds: 7/2 (Skybet)
Team bets
I would be surprised if Chris Gayle doesn’t lead the West Indian run charts in this tournament but he is a little more injury prone these days so it isn’t a certainty he stays fit neither is it certain that one of the big hitters in this side don’t go mad in a couple of games so I’ll leave Gayle alone. He’s plenty short enough anyway.
I’ve taken Suliemann Benn in the outright bowler market and I’m happy to take him here too. We saw on Tuesday just how the Nagpur wicket is playing not to mention the six matches played there in the qualifying stages.
The wicket is simply turning square and Benn’s flight and loop is going to catch a lot of batsmen out when the West Indies play South Africa and Afghanistan here in the group phase. They are their last two group matches so the wickets will be so tired by then they will be nearly impossible to bat on.
With the amount of cricket Samuel Badree is going to get being unclear I can’t ignore the silly 12/1 quotes on big Suliemann to lead West Indies’ bowling in this event.
Back S.Benn Top West Indies Tournament Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Boylesports
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