MUMBAI: The chase is on. India and the West Indies will face off in the third and final T20I at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, with the series level at 1-1. On both occasions, the team batting second won.
While Virat Kohli’s brilliant 94 not out off 50 saw India chase down 207/5 in the opener, West Indies returned the favour in Thiruvananthpuram by overhauling 170/7 with nine balls to spare. With both teams featuring power-hitters, the Mumbai crowd is in for another blockbuster.
“Yes, of late our chasing has been good, and not posting targets or defending,” said India opener Rohit Sharma on the eve of the match at his home ground. In their last ten T20Is, India have won only twice after batting first.
“It’s a new set of guys; lot of inexperienced players along with experienced ones. When you talk about setting targets, on that (Thiruvananthapuram) pitch 170-plus was a decent target when we started batting. The wicket was on the slower side. Shot-making was not that easy, although West Indies made it look very easy. That’s them. They are very unpredictable. So we just have to get everything together and make sure to execute those plans, whether it is with bat or ball.”
India have depth in batting, especially with youngster Shivam Dube joining in the party in the second match. But their quicks — Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar — have failed to make an impression against the big-hitting West Indians. India’s bowlers will have their task cut out at Wankhede’s batting strip, given the opposition’s rippling power.
The last time West Indies played in Mumbai (2016), they knocked out India from the T20 World Cup with an emphatic chase in the semifinal. Recently, West Indies great Brian Lara acknowledged that while his team may have declined sharply in Tests, they could still hold their own in T20s. “West Indies are twice (World T20) champions. A lot of oppositions around the world are scared of us in the shortest format,” he said.
With only a year to go for the next World T20, West Indies are looking sharp again under Kieron Pollard. Like Rohit, Pollard is a Mumbai Indians giant and knows Wankhede and all its moods well enough.
“Kieron is proactive with all the players,” remarked West Indies coach Phil Simmons on Tuesday. “He lets them know exactly what he wants from them. He’s been good in the sense that they know that he’ll give everything for the team.”