India vs West Indies 2016, 1st T20 at Florida: 5 key player battles
India and the West Indies are all set to battle it out in the land of baseball when they take on each other in Florida in the most anticipated series of the year on Saturday. While the Caribbeans were steamrolled in the recently concluded Test series, the Indian limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be wary of the fact that West Indies are the world beaters when it comes to the game’s shortest format and with the inclusion of star players like Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree and Kieron Pollard the West Indies outfit looks a completely different side from the Test series.
India, on the other hand, is playing a more or less same team that competed in the Test series and the only inclusion in the side is their limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the new pace sensation Jasprit Bumrah. Virat Kohli who had a terrific run in the 2016 T20 World Cup will try to replicate his recent performances and come out on top against the West Indies bowling line-up.
Also read:India vs West Indies T20 combined XI
With just a few hours to go for the historic series to commence, here are key five player battles that might decide the outcome of the series.
# 1 Rohit Sharma vs Samuel Badree
Rohit Sharma has been a consistent performer for India as far as limited-overs cricket is concerned and has provided India with the ideal start while opening the batting. On his day he can take the game away from the opposition very quickly and the West Indies must come prepared to counter him. His front foot pull is one of his trademark shots and the Windies bowler will be wary of the fact that if they bowl anything in Sharma’s region, the ball will go sailing into the crowd.
The Windies would be heavily relying on Samuel Badree who has been the most consistent bowler for the Caribbeans in the shortest format of the game. A familiar bowler to bowl in the powerplay, Badree will look to unsettle Rohit Sharma with his pace variations and his immaculate wrong ‘un. It will be very interesting to see how Sharma prepares himself to handle Badree and we could have an intense battle between these two players in the two-match series.