What to expect from the India-Sri Lanka-West Indies tri-series

The complex nature of the game substantiates the claim that ‘cricket is an unpredictable sport’. There are no permanent champions, and no team is truly invincible though they may appear so on the outset of a tournament. After a string of convincing victories, India stands tall and mighty, waiting to breathe fire down on any team that dares to challenge them.

But this is where the unpredictability quotient comes into play. Taking into account the rawness and the inexperience of the side, they cannot be claimed as the masters of the game, not even champions, though they were formally anointed thus only a couple of days back. You might call me a pessimist and a cynic, but I’m merely considering the stats and the fact that India are no more than rookies who have punched above their weight in the last few days.

This tri-series would have its punchline as – “Beat India, and exact your revenge!” for the kind of treatment both Sri Lanka and West Indies received at the hands of India at the recently concluded Champions trophy. That would be a near impossible task for both the teams despite India not being truly invincible. I might be contradicting my earlier statement, but as they stand, India is the team in great form and thus the team to beat. Therefore, Sri Lanka and West Indies would have a mighty task on their hands in this series.

This competition would derive fans’ interest from the fact that two of the teams are World cup finalists, and the home team is the current T20 World Cup champions. That lends a new dimension to the tournament as no team can be counted out till the last round-robin match is played.

Since the series is happening in West Indies, the teams could be called evenly balanced, for each team has the necessary variety of players suited for these conditions. In West Indies, one can expect pitches that assist spin bowling, and that is a factor that would draw added speculations about the team that would come out triumphs, since each team has a decent spinner among their ranks and a good day for them would mean the same for their respective teams.

The seamers are not far behind. In West Indies they say “for every ball you bend your back, you will get your reward!”, which should lift the hearts of the seamers who would have enjoyed bowling in England only a few days ago and would have been let down by the sudden change in the pitch and conditions there.