KOLKATA: Even in their defeat against South Africa in the Super Eights clash at Ahmedabad a few days ago, two-time champions West Indies bettered their record of most sixes by any team in an edition of the T20 World Cup. With 11 sixes in the match, their overall tally reached 66 - four more than the previous record set by the Caribbean side in the last edition.
West Indian batters preferring the aerial route is nothing new. It started 10 years ago when former captain Daren Sammy, now head coach of the team, put emphasis on the team's strategy of dealing in boundaries - the move that worked wonders as they went on to win their second title.
Despite playing 53 dot balls, Shai Hope and Co ended up scoring 176/8 in 20 overs in their latest outing, which once again underlines their gung-ho approach no matter what the situation is - even it meant six of their top seven batters ended up holing out to fielders.
And Sunday is expected to be no different at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata with their contest against India turning out to be a virtual quarterfinal. It was South Africa pacers - Lungi Ngidi (3/30) and Kagiso Rabada (2/22) - who broke the backbone of Windies batters, who anyway were in pursuit of boundaries irrespective of the situation. Onus will be on India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, who have claimed seven and eight wickets respectively from five matches so far with Hardik Pandya expected to complement them.
Arshdeep spoke on West Indies' approach after India's 72-run win over Zimbabwe and said they will assess things on the day of the match. “It’s not like they have only one gear. Today, if you look, they played really nicely in the middle as well. They took the game deep and then made around 180 runs. So I guess they can also adapt according to the situation,” he observed while talking to reporters in the mixed zone. “Looking forward to the game, we’ll see how the wicket plays and what the conditions are like. The focus right now is on recovery, and we’ll assess things on game day.”
Even as the left-arm pacer opined their next opponents have adopted a completely different approach after losing early wickets, West Indies performance so far suggests something entirely different. In the six matches they have played in the tournament, the boundary percentage in their total has always been above 60 except for the Group C match against Italy where it was 57. Remarkably, it was highest against the Proteas as they scored 126 runs in boundaries which included 15 fours and 11 sixes - around 72 per cent.
South Africa have given a template and if India bowlers manage to follow it and contain high-flying West Indies batters at Eden Gardens where boundaries are short, the Men in Blue can keep their dream of winning a second consecutive title alive.
Their previous record at the venue will only add to their confidence. Out of eight T20Is they played here, they have lost only once - the first match staged in October 2011. More importantly, West Indies have never beaten India in a T20I in Kolkata. They have lost all the four matches. India won twice while chasing the target and emerged winners in the remaining two while defending the total.
One thing that can help the Hope-led side will be their familiarity with the venue of late. They have played two matches here in the tournament so far beating Scotland and Italy by 35 and 42 runs respectively. India last played here in January when Varun Chakravarthy claimed 3/23 in his four overs to bowl out England for 132. Abhishek Sharma scored a 34-ball 79 to help India chase the target in 12.5 overs with seven wickets in hand.
The co-hosts will hope to keep their unbeaten streak since 2011 intact at the venue when they take the field on Sunday with West Indies, who eliminated India from the tournament 10 years ago winning the last four clash, standing between them and the semifinal.