India conclude their tour of West Indies on Sunday when the two nations meet in what will be a deciding fifth T20 in Florida with what has been a very entertaining series on the line before the Indians head home.
West Indies took a 2-0 lead in this series but India have roared back in style in the last two matches to set up a very competitive closing match to their tour. With the T20 World Cup less than a year away this feels like a match with meaning too.
West Indies
When they took a 2-0 lead in the series, West Indies were looking like huge favourites to go on and secure it in style but they have come up against a couple of monster performances and now have one last chance to get themselves over the line. The concern from a West Indies point of view is that their two wins were more because India flattered to deceive than the home side outplaying them and when India have turned up West Indies have been found wanting.
They have been taken apart with the ball in the last two matches so they need to improve their standards in that department. Any team is vulnerable in this format of the game if they don’t pick up early wickets so that will be the task at hand for West Indies here. They got themselves in a right pickle in the batting innings in both losses and while they need credit for getting out of trouble and posting competitive targets, they could do with someone in their top three going big here.
India
It was a very slow start to the series for India. I don’t necessarily think that is too much of a surprise because some players were coming in without much cricket under their belts but once they got up to speed the turnaround has been pretty remarkable. They won the fourth game on Saturday with so much to spare that they look like emphatic favourites to go on and complete the comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
The Indian bowlers have come to the party throughout the series but the difference in the last two matches is their top order has fired. That wasn’t really the case in the opening couple of matches but once they found their stride they have dominated the bowling they have faced. India won on Saturday with three overs to spare and a whole host of star batting to come so if they perform well with the ball again they are going to be hard to stop here.
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Team News
West Indies might think they need to change something with the ball to give them the best chance in this match. Alzarri Joseph would be the obvious candidate to come into the side and after going for 32 runs from three overs in the previous game, Obed McCoy could be most vulnerable.
There appears to be no reason for India to make any changes for this match unless someone picked up an injury which wasn’t detected on Saturday or unless there is a player they don’t want to risk for a second match in two days.
Betting
The sixes copped for us in the previous match and I see no reason why they won’t do that again here because the line has remained the same. The price has come in a bit but that is understandable given that we saw 19 sixes in the match here on Saturday. There is a whole lot more to come in terms of six hitting in this final game of the series as well because on Saturday West Indies fell in a hole at 57-4 in the seventh over.
To their credit they dug their way out of that trouble but teams generally don’t get into that mess twice and among that early carnage two brutal six hitters in Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell were out facing six balls between them. India chased down their target with Tilak Varma facing just five balls and Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson not even getting to the crease. After 19 sixes in the previous game on this ground and a whole heap of batters to come I expect this line to be covered comfortably.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.75 with BetVictor
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