🏏West Indies vs India, 4th T20I : Lauderhill, Florida(USA) 🏏

🏏West Indies vs India, 4thT20I:CBRP StadiumTurf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida🏏

The action-packed T20I bilateral saga between the West Indies and India is now heading towards an anticipated climax, which will take place on American soil. The Men in Blue's all-format bilateral saga with the Windies side will now move out of the Caribbean Islands to Lauderhill’s Central Broward Regional Park Stadium.

Setting up a perfect weekend for cricket fans in the USA, the decisive 4th and 5th T20Is of the series will take place on Saturday and Sunday successively in the Sunshine State.

Yashasvi Jaiswal had a forgettable debut day as he got out on the individual score after falling for the trap of Obed McCoy in the first over itself. However, the Rajasthan Royals youngster is likely to once again open the Indian innings, with Shubman Gill retaining his place in the playing XI.

On the other hand, Jason Holder who architected the hosts’ triumph in the opening game, is expected to stay on the bench as he still seems not to be fit. During the second fixture, the 31-year-old suffered a knee injury that has kept him out of the action, while his place in the team was taken by another bowling all-rounder, Roston Chase.

While the bowling has been stupendous in the last few matches, Johnson Charles continues to disappoint against the Indian bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav in particular. The in-form Shai Hope is expected to anchor the Windies’ batting order and take the No. 3 spot, with Charles sitting out the USA leg of the series.

The West Indies kicked off the 20-over campaign with a bang and stunned the highest-ranked T20I side to win the opening two games of the series. Skipper Rovman Powell and his boys staged the turnaround in the Trinidad fixture after edging out the visitors by 4 runs to successfully defend the challenging total of 149 runs.

It was followed by another triumph for the Men in Maroon as they registered another thrilling victory, but this time at Guyana’s Providence Stadium with a winning margin of 2 wickets.

The two consecutive defeats in the opening matches drew criticism towards the captain, Hardik Pandya and the team management as their preparations for the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup were also brought under the scanner.

Upon receiving the wake-up call, Team India quickly reacted to the crisis and orchestrated a compelling comeback in the last fixture of the Caribbean leg.

Kuldeep marked his return to the playing XI with three wickets, which played a pivotal role in restricting the hosts to a first innings total of 159 runs.

India had a shaky start to the run-chase as both of the openers departed from the battlefield inside the power play.

However, a robust 87-run partnership between Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket rescued the crisis.

The visitors chased down this series’ highest target as the Player of the Match award was claimed by the Indian vice captain, who played a marvelous innings of 83 runs off 44 balls in the winning cause.

Predicted Playing XI

West Indies: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell ©, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy

India: Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya ©, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar

Prediction

Despite losing the most recent clash, the Windies still stand as the favorite to win this forthcoming contest, as the nature of the venue is going to play a major factor. The men in Maroon are more familiar with the American conditions, as the USA also hosts several Caribbean Premier League fixtures in every edition, and their experience gives them an additional advantage over the visitors.

Head to Head record

The Men in Blue have now taken an affirmative lead over the two-time World Champions, who have always struggled against them when it comes to bilateral face-offs. Their lead over the Windies in the head-to-head record is now equal to the number of matches won by the Caribbean combatants in this rivalry. India currently stands at 18 wins, while their favorite foes have managed to emerge victorious only on nine out of 26 occasions.

The Lauderhill Arena holds the honor of being the USA’s only cricketing venue to host T20 Internationals and has witnessed 14 T20 games to date. India’s maiden international appearance on American soil was back in 2016 against the same opposition, which was won by the Men in Maroon with the slightest win margin of 1 run. The Windies emerged victorious in that two-match series after the second clash ended without a result, however, the Asian giants went on to win four consecutive encounters against their Caribbean counterparts since then.

Key players to watch

Rovman Powell: The Windies skipper is leaving no stone unturned to revive the Caribbean's fate, and has also found success with diligent efforts. Powell was the highest scorer of the opening T20I, scoring 48 runs from 32 balls when all other batters were struggling to fetch runs. He once again saved the day for his batting unit in the most recent game, scoring an incredible cameo of an unbeaten 40 at the strike rate of 210 to take them to a respectable total of 159.

The Hyderabad prodigy missed out on his well-deserved half-century by the shortest of distances.

Tilak Varma: It seems like the Men in Blues have found the new Mr. Consistent in the middle order, as the MI youngster has scalped runs in each and every appearance of his maiden T20I campaign. After playing a quickfire inning of 39 runs at a strike rate of 177 in his debut match, Tilak went on to score his first half-century in the very next game. He then played an unbeaten 49-run knock from 37 balls in the Third T20I, helping his nation register its first win.

After a month of island hopping in the Caribbean, where the results have been somewhat mixed, India jet off to mainland USA hoping to stave off a rare series defeat to the West Indies. The visitors' engine has often sputtered in the white-ball leg, partly down to their big-picture focus and the resulting experimentation. They have, however, shown their true hand when they've been pushed to a corner, like in the deciding one-dayer in Trinidad or in the must-win third T20I in Guyana three days ago.

In Florida, which is expected to host games at next year's T20 World Cup, India have a task to familiarise themselves with the high-scoring conditions and see if the chosen bunch of youngsters possess the wherewithal to do so when they aren't exactly frontrunners. After firing blanks in the first two games, India's T20 batting linchpin, Suryakumar Yadav, stamped his presence on the series.

For the West Indies, the motivation is simple. They are on the brink of a series win, a chance to win their first rubber of two or more matches against India, in any format, since 2016.

Doing so will also give the two-time winners of the T20 World Cup their first back-to-back series wins in the format since 2017. That, if not anything, should alleviate some of the crushing recent disappointments and set them rolling once more on the path to next year's World Cup in these very locales.

Pitch Report---

A cloudy morning in Florida with a very small chance of showers. The venue last hosted a T20I just over a year ago featuring the same two teams. In the two games on India's visit here in 2022, they defended 191 and 188 rather comfortably. In fact, teams batting first have won 11 of the 13 games here.

Roston Chase bowled four tidy overs in the third T20I but could make way if Jason Holder has sufficiently shrugged off his minor knee injury. West Indies' top-order hasn't fired as yet and there could be a temptation to bring in Shai Hope.

Hardik Pandya could want to sift through his fast bowling options. Conceding 53 runs from the final five overs isn't bad in the format, but in view of next year's tournament, changes could be accorded. India have Umran Malik, Avesh Khan on the bench should they look to swap out one of Mukesh Kumar or Arshdeep Singh.

On the batting front, Shubman Gill has had a particularly quiet tour post his heroics in the first-half of the year. They'll hope to see him sign off on a high and rediscover his batting rhythm building towards the two major tournaments, albeit in a different format.

A few facts--

- Yuzvendra Chahal is five wickets away from becoming the first Indian, and eighth overall, to get 100 T20I wickets

- Johnson Charles has a good record at the venue. In T20Is here, he has a strike-rate of 152.94. In CPL games, he has struck at 158.65.

- Pace has gone at an economy of 8.15 at this venue, spin has accounted for fewer wickets but has gone at only 6.77 to the over

What they said:

"As a group we have decided to bat with seven batters and we have to take responsibility. If the batters score runs then you don't need someone at number eight." - Hardik Pandya, India captain