| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
The under strength and final team of the Champions Trophy format, which includes the top eight cricket playing nations, the West Indies were always going to struggle against the top nations considering the likes of captain Chris Gayle decided to sit out the tournament due to a contract dispute.
That left a team of Calypso kids led by journeyman captain Floyd Reifer to battle the world’s best and they haven’t disgraced themselves either. If their batsmen could have put on a few more runs they might have snuck home with a victory against Pakistan while their match against Australia was a decent hit out.
India should make light work of the team however and need to if they are any chance of making the semi-finals.
The washout against Australia in their last match was the worst possible outcome after an earlier loss to Pakistan.
India must now not only flog the West Indies but also hope Pakistan beat Australia.
The sub-continent juggernauts have the batting power to do just that with Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni all of which can score a century and if another batsman can get at least half of that well they are on their way to a big total.
The West Indies pace attack of Gavin Tonge, Tino Best, and Nikita Miller will need to strike early and make India push the runs which will in turn cause more wickets to fall because as the cricketing world knows, India has a tendency to be a house of cards once the pressure is applied.
The Caribbean batsmen have nothing to lose and will want to cement a claim to be considered for selection once the contract disputes are resolved. That means Devon Smith, Travis Dowlin, Floyd Reifer and Andre Fletcher can simply launch an all-out attack against India’s quicks.
Ashish Nera, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar will want the exact opposite and will need to pitch the ball up in Johannesburg if they want to victory to give them a shot at claiming the world number one spot.
Let's watch who will be the winner...
