ICC World Cup 2019: Match 34, India vs West Indies – Match Preview

India will look to continue their winning streak when they take on West Indies in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 on June 27 (Thursday) at the Old Trafford in Manchester. For West Indies, it is a must-win clash to keep their chances alive of making it to the top four.

Indian bowlers stepped up once again against Afghanistan to steal out a victory from challenging situations. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were on the money and will look to keep up their excellent work. Shami, who grabbed a hattrick in the last game will retain their berth in the playing XI ahead of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has returned to the nets in the road for recovery.

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On the other hand, West Indies have lacked to produce team efforts which have hurt them badly in this World Cup. Carlos Brathwaite almost pulled off a stunner in their last game against New Zealand but fell short by five runs. There have been more noteworthy performances here and there which were not able to hand them a win. Jason Holder & Co’s chances of making it to the top four still hang by the wire and will aim to pull off a complete performance against an in-form Indian side. However, they will miss Andre Russell who will miss the remainder of the tournament due to a hamstring injury.

Date and Venue: India vs West Indies, June 27 (Thursday) at 3:00 PM IST, at the Old Trafford, Manchester

Predicted XI

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

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West Indies: Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Darren Bravo, Andre Russell, Ashley Nurse, Carlos Brathwaite, Oshane Thomas, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell.

World Cup Head to Head

Statistical Preview

i) Virat Kohli (19,963 runs) needs to score 37 more runs to complete his 20,000 international runs. Only 11 overall batsmen (including two Indian batsmen) have scored 20,000 international runs. Among them, Brian Lara (West Indies) and Sachin Tendulkar (India) achieved this feat in 453 international innings, which is the fastest to complete 20,000 international runs. Virat Kohli has an excellent chance to break this record as he has played only 416 international innings.

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ii) Virat Kohli (1,840 runs) is 91 runs away to become the leading ODI run-scorer against Windies. Only Javed Miandad (Pakistan) is ahead of Kohli in this list with 1,930 ODI runs against West Indies.

iii) Hardik Pandya will play his 50th ODI match.

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iv) MS Dhoni (16,909 runs) is 91 runs away to complete his 17,000 international runs. Dhoni will be the fifth Indian batsman to score 17,000 international runs.

v) Chris Gayle (1,138 runs) needs to score 88 more runs to become the most run-scorer for West Indies in Cricket World Cup history. Only Brian Lara is ahead of him in this list with 1,225 World Cup runs.

vi) With one more wicket, off-spinner Ashley Nurse will complete his 50 ODI wickets. Till the date, five Windies spinners have claimed at least 50 ODI wickets.

Pitch Conditions

Old Trafford has so far produced some good wickets with some assistance for all. Any score of above 300 will be challenging to chase. The team winning the toss will like to bat first as it tends to help the spinners as the game progress.

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Weather Forecast

Fans and players can expect sunny conditions with almost no chance of rain through the day. The temperatures will be hovering around 20-21 degrees Celsius making it pleasant weather to play a game of cricket. It will gradually increase as the game progress, and we can have full fifty overs of action.

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Match Prediction

India and West Indies have always produced exciting cricketing matches whenever they have gone up against each other. However, the Men in Blues have dominated in recent times with the team from the Caribbean going through a transition. Moreover, India also lead West Indies 5-3 in terms of World Cup games.

Meanwhile, the current West Indies set-up is unpredictable and stunned Pakistan in their opening encounter. But since then, they have been very mild and have not managed to win a single game. As a result, the dominant Indian team will have an advantage and confidence by their side to seal another victory to keep their unbeaten streak intact.