Pooran-less WINDIES undertake 2020 World Cup preparations
Wed, Nov 13, '19
It’s back to the Ekana Cricket Stadium for the West Indies and Afghanistan, as their three-match T20I series gets underway on Thursday morning Caribbean time. With only seventeen T20Is on the Caribbean side’s schedule, before the ICC World Twenty20 in March of next year, newly-appointed captain Kieron Pollard has next to no time to whip the defending champions into form.
And with cricket’s most-recent ball-tampering scandal keeping Nicholas Pooran ( who is, no doubt, an integral part of Pollard’s plans) out for the first three of these seventeen fixtures, the task has become a bit more difficult.
Along with himself, Pollard has been appointed the following team to marshal against Afghanistan in India: Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Hayden Walsh Jr., Lendl Simmons, Khary Pierre, Sheldon Cottrell, Denesh Ramdin, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph.
Having swept the Afghans in their three-match One-Day International series, the number ten-ranked West Indies will have a tougher fight on their hands facing the number-eight ranked opponents in the shortest format of the game. The West Indies are on a slide, having lost their last six T20 Internationals, being swept by England and India in their last two series in this format.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, have won their previous four bilateral T20I series, though their last bilateral T20I series loss did come against the current opposition in the Caribbean in 2017.
The West Indies will welcome back Lendl Simmons, who last played this format on the international scene back in 2017. While, Hero Caribbean Premier League 2019 top run-scorer, Brandon King, might well be making two debuts in one week, following his first ODI appearance for the West Indies on Monday.
Khary Pierre seems set to continue as second fiddle to Hayden Walsh Jr. as first-choice spinner with the arrival of spinning all-rounder Fabian Allen for this series.
Predicted XI: Lewis, King, Simmons, Ramdin (wk), Rutherford, Pollard (c), Allen, Holder, Cottrell, Walsh Jr., Williams.
Afghanistan vs West Indies 1st T20I, Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, Thursday, 9:30 am ECT/ 8:30 am Jamaica time.
