India and the West Indies will take on each other in the fourth T20I of the series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday. The hosts had taken a 2-1 series lead after winning the third game by 14 runs at Indore.
India had veered off the track in the previous season as they lost five wickets from overs 9-15 for 78 runs. The home team had smashed 109-1 in the first eight overs, courtesy Abhishek Sharma’s 69 runs off 30 balls but could not capitalise on the start.
India has been backing batting depth on pitches, which have been a paradise for the batters. The Men in Blue are adopting an aggressive approach with the bat from the get-go and thus they are backing batting all-rounders ahead of specialist bowlers.
It is well known that the Hyderabad pitch is a featherbed for the batters and the bowlers might be hiding themselves as the run-scoring fest is expected to continue.
West Indies has a lot of firepower in their batting unit and the likes of Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer will need to come to the party. The visitors have looked dependent on Shai Hope, who was dismissed cheaply in the previous game for five runs.
Head-to-head: Matches: 33, Won by India: 22, Won by West Indies: 11, No result: 1.
India’s T20I squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir
West Indies T20I squad: Shai Hope (C & WK), Jewel Andrew, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Kamil Pooran, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Quentin Sampson, Romario Shepherd, Shamar Springer
