West Indies v India – July 2017 T20I preview

Fresh from India wrapping up the ODI series 3-1 against their hosts the West Indies,  the focus now shifts to the shortest form of the game.  The tour concludes with a one-off T20 International on Sunday 9th July at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.

For the hosts, it is a chance to show their T20 muscle, being the reigning world champions in the format, and comes on the back of a 3-0 series win against an up-and-coming Afghanistan team the last time they played in this format in June.

The last time India played a 20-over series was in January/February this year when they edged England 2-1.

So both sides are in good form in the format and will be looking to finish off the tour in style.

From a personal player point of view, there is plenty to focus on:

Chris Gayle (West Indies)

The pre-match news has been dominated by the surprise inclusion of self-styled Universe Boss and T20 specialist Christopher Henry Gayle in the West Indies squad. This is the first time Gayle will have appeared for the Windies since the famous night in Kolkata in April 2016 when the Caribbean superstars stunned England in the World T20 final.

It will also be the first time he has played a T20I at his home ground in Jamaica.

Gayle currently has 1,519 T20I runs, placing him in 13th spot in the world overall. He is also one of only two players (alongside the now-retired New Zealander Brendon McCullum) to have scored two 20-over international centuries.

If he can turn up the heat with a century in this game it will take him past Mohammad Hafeez into 10th place in the all-time runs scorers list (and past Eoin Morgan and AB de Villiers in 11th and 12th along the way) as well as giving him the outright world record for T20 International centuries.

Samuel Badree (West Indies)

Spinner Badree brought up 50 wickets in T20 internationals during the recent Afghanistan series, and now sits in second place in the Windies all-time T20 wicket-takers list. Three more wickets in this game will see him overtake Dwayne Bravo’s 52 and move into top spot.

Sunil Narine (West Indies)

Fellow slow-bowler Narine has 48 shortest-form international wickets, so will be looking for two more to bring up his half-century.

Virat Kohli (India)

India’s captain-superstar has scored 1,709 runs in this format of the game for his country, a total which sees him in fifth place worldwide.

71 more runs will see him move past the suspended Afghani Mohammad Shahzad into fourth, and 98 will see him edge past New Zealand’s Martin Guptill into third.

MS Dhoni (India)

India’s veteran but evergreen keeper Dhoni currently has 65 dismissals to his name in T20 Internationals, comprised of 42 catches and 23 stumpings.

It’s a long shot, but five more dismissals in the on-off game will give him a share of the world record with South African superstar AB de Villiers, who has 70.