India vs West Indies, 3rd T20I, Mumbai: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

A seesaw, exhilarating series will come to its conclusion in Mumbai on Wednesday, December 11 when India and West Indies clash in the third and final T20I at the Wankhede Stadium.

India won the opener rather dominantly, with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scoring big in a chase of 207 in Hyderabad. However, their problems batting first were laid threadbare when in the second match in Thiruvananthapuram, the batsmen struggled, and were outclassed in an eight-wicket loss.

On to the third match, the only certainty is that this should be a good one. The victory in Thiruvananthapuram was just West Indies’ second in 11 T20Is this year, but the side have been something of a force this series, with more of their regular players featuring against the mighty Indians.

In fact, heading into the final match, there will be those backing the visitors to come away with the victory. They are a fine T20I side, packed with power-hitters, and their bowlers displayed much-needed control in the second match. If all departments can click in tandem, India will have their work cut out.

As for the hosts, the experiment with Shivam Dube at one-drop can be said to be a success after he brought forth memories of Yuvraj Singh in a 30-ball 54. It was his first international fifty, and he showed he was right at home at the biggest stage. The rest of the order still struggled, though, but India will have seen enough in Dube’s performance to continue experimenting towards getting out of their funk batting first.

It should be an interesting encounter, to say the least.

Head to head

In 16 T20Is between these sides over the years, India have the upper hand with nine victories to West Indies’ six. The visitors’ victory in Thiruvananthapuram snapped a seven-match losing streak for West Indies against India, and whether that provides a fillip in the final match remains to be seen.

Key players

Shivam Dube (India): The performance of Dube was one to behold. There were three fours and four sixes in his knock as India seemed to have found a solution to their problems batting first. He will be encouraged to do more of that in Mumbai – his hometown – irrespective of whether India bat first or second.

Lendl Simmons (West Indies): The West Indies opener scored a thrilling 45-ball 67* to lead their chase in the second T20I. In fact, there is something about India that brings out the best in him: his career average in T20Is is 24.57, but against India, that goes up to 41.66 in eight matches. India will be wary.

Likely XIs

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal

West Indies: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Brandon King, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Khary Pierre, Kesrick Williams, Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh Jr

Prediction

India to come away with a narrow win.