West Indies cannot afford another misstep as they take on a tenacious USA outfit in the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown, seeking to renew their quest for an unprecedented third title. (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
After remaining unbeaten in the group stage, the West Indies slumped to an eight-wicket loss to defending champions England in their opening Super Eight fixture, paying the price for playing out as many as 51 dot ball༺s and failing to rotate striꦺke.
The heavy defeat to England has not only pushed Rovman Powell and his men tꦉo the bottom of the group but they now have -1.343 net run rate and need to win big toℱ keep their hopes of lifting the title at home alive.
However, the USA hasn't won any game since their victory aga🙈inst Pakistan earlier this month. But they gave a good account of themselves against India and almost shocked South Africa, falling just 18 runs short of the Proteas' 194/4 against a high-quality bowling attack.
The co-hosts of the tournament have shown that they are not there just to make up numbers and are not to be taken lightly. They have played an aggressive brand of cricket so far and in likelihood will continue to do so in ☂the coming matches.
"Of course, I would say we're playing good cricket and the team is gelli🧜ng well together and at the end of the day we know that we're going to be the underdogs for all teams that we played against in the Super 8s.
"So, we're just here to play good cricket and if 🌳we go in, we win - if we lose, we lose," USA batter Steven Taylor said at th🐼e pre-match press conference.
However, their weakness is their inexperienced bowling attack that sometimes lacks discipline, and the West Indies, who are blessed with big hitters like Nicholas Pooran, Andre Rusell, and Po⛎🐟well, would like to capitalise on that.
"We did lack discipline in the bowling at times. Once we play good cricket we can 𒉰beat any team in the world. But we need to be a lot more disciplined," vice-captain Aaron Jones had said after the game against South Africa.
Even though they have their backs against the walls, West Indies coach Daren Sammy asserted their "spir🌳its 🔯are not dampened".
"In a tournament, there's a game where the opposition will get the better of 💫you. But that doesn't mean you're out of it. Now, in order to win, we've got to win all our matches. And that's what we'll focus on," Sammy said.
Brandon King, who suffered a side strain and ജw🍷as forced to retire hurt against England, remains a doubtful starter for the hosts. If he doesn't recover, Shimron Hetmyer could take King's place in the playing XI.
The USღA have been without skipper Monank Patel since 🍷their game against Pakistan.
Teams:
West Indies: Rovman Powell (c), Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Roston Chase, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Obed McCoy, Shamar Joseph, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Ho🌄pe.
USA: Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey🐎 Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir. Reserve Players: Gajanand S🐟ingh, Juanoy Drysdale, Yasir Mohammad.
The match Starts at 6 am IST.
