India vs Windies 2018: India Start As Favourites: Carlos Brathwaite

Windies skipper Carlos Brathwaite, on Saturday, insisted India start favourites in the three-match T20I series.

Unlike Tests and ODIs, India have not quite managed to get the better of Windies in T20Is. In fact, Windies have pretty much dominated the Men in Blue in the shortest format of the game.

The two-time WorldT20 winners have a five-two record from eight exchanges against India. India failed to overcome Carlos Brathwaite’s men in their last four encounters. A couple of years ago, Windies shattered India’s campaign in the 2016 T20I World Cup, defeating them in the semi-final.  India’s last win against West Indies came way back on March 23, 2014 in the WorldT20 in Bangladesh.

But despite the stats and history heavily favouring Windies, their skipper Carlos Brathwaite is not getting complacent. In fact, Brathwaite believes the home side will start as the favourites.

“We don’t think so. India at home in any format (are) very formidable. Especially with the advent of IPL and the amount of T20 cricket that the Indian superstars play, I think they definitely start as favourites,” Brathwaite said on the eve of the first game.

“We are not accustomed to the underdog tag but we are going to take it this time around. But it’s not something that we are ashamed of really,” he added.

He further mentioned the visitors’ fine effort in the ODIs and insisted that the players are raring to take the field.

“We have a new team, young exciting team and our CPL stars are young and are raring to go. Some of them had a taste of it in the ODIs and I personally think we did a lot better than what a lot of people expected in the ODI format. We want to create an even bigger surprise in the T20s and come away with the trophy at the end of the series.”

The Windies star went on to say that the absence of skipper Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni diminishes India’s quality.

“Any team has a better chance if they don’t play. They have loads of experience and quality. So Virat and Dhoni missing diminishes the quality.

“But that being said, there is still loads of quality in the Indian side. We won’t be disrespecting them or take them lightly just because they are missing those two. Any team would miss Virat and Dhoni,” he said.

Eden Gardens will host the much-awaited first T20I on Sunday.