ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is reaching towards its end where the only team to stay unbeaten in this tournament so far is India who will be taking on the West Indies in the 34th match of this World Cup at the Old Trafford Ground in Manchester from 3:00 PM (IST) onwards.
Journey So Far
The Indian Team is currently at the third spot in the Points Table with nine points in just five matches they have played so far. On the other hand, West Indies are out from the race of qualifying for the semi-finals after their painful loss against New Zealand in the last match by a margin of just five runs. But now they will look to put some obstacles in India’s road of securing a berth in the final four.
How the Pitch Will Play
A typical Manchester pitch is expected which will continue to assist the bowlers and a great challenge is awaiting for the batsmen. A dry surface is on the offering that will generate a pretty decent amount of pace and bounce for the pacers while the spinners are expected to enjoy some spin off the surface.
Previous Encounters
Both these teams have met for 126 times in the history of ODI Cricket where the Windies edge past the ‘Men in Blue’ just by a whisker. West Indies have 62 wins to their name while India is just three wins behind them and have 59 successes.
The story is quite different when it comes to World Cup history as the Indian team has better record here with five wins in comparison to three wins of Windies out of eight matches played between these two teams.
News coming ahead of this Match
Ace West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell has been ruled out from the remainder of the tournament as he is suffering from a knee injury and will undergo a surgery for that. Sunil Ambris, right-handed batsman is announced as a replacement for Russell.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who got injured in the match against Pakistan, was seen practicing in the nets and will might be available for this game as well but as Shami bowled a splendid spell in the last match, it will be interesting to see the decision of the Indian team management over this selection.
Probable XIs:
India- Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah
West Indies- Chris Gayle, Shai Hope (WK), Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicolas Pooran, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder (C), Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas
