What is it?
2019 World Cup group stage match
Who is playing?
India v West Indies
When is it?
Today, 1.30pm (UAE time) start
Where is it being played?
Old Trafford, Manchester
How to watch in UAE?
Tune in to OSN Sports Cricket HD or create an online account with Wavo for US$54 (a little less than Dh200). The account will provide customers access to two channels, OSN Cric Xtra 1 and OSN Cric Xtra 2.
What’s their head-to-head like?
Matches: 126
India won: 59
West Indies won: 62
Tied: 2
No results: 3
Form guide (past five games):
India: WWWWL
West Indies: LLLLW
What they said:
Bharat Arun, India bowling coach, on the choice of pacers at their disposal: "Bhuvneshwar's injury is not of any great concern. It is just a niggle, which we didn't want to take a chance on. And it was also an opportunity for us to plug [Mohammed] Shami into the games. But the fact he's done exceptionally well all goes well for us. It's an embarrassment of riches. And we would take a call as per the conditions."
Jason Holder, West Indies captain, on the importance of beating India: "We've shown glimpses here and there of what we can produce. And as a side we just haven't brought it together collectively more often than not. And it's hurt us in games before. So tomorrow is another opportunity for us to bring it all together and play a perfect game."
Likely XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder (c), Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.
Summary:
India have a huge opportunity to seal their place in the semi-finals as they face a West Indies side high on individual quality but low on confidence. The latter are also shorn of experience after the withdrawal of Andre Russell because of a knee injury.
The Windies will need to win, though, if they want to keep their World Cup hopes alive, and who better to rise to the occasion than Chris Gayle, fondly referred to as the 'Universe Boss' for many reasons, including having a sense of pre-eminence about him.
But for Gayle to shine, the left-hander opener will have to see off India's in-form pace-bowling department which includes Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
On the other hand, India's batsmen will likely need to improve their output today after a rather underwhelming performance against Afghanistan. If the Windies do click at Old Trafford, it should be a fun game to watch.
