*ICC WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: WI VS USA-PREVIEW*
*THE BUILD UP:*
It’s a petty state if you’re a Windies fan with your team expected to compete for a spot in the Worldcup, let alone play a Worldcup on its own merit. Shai Hope and his men haven’t had it easy. With a number of captains forced to resign or resigned themselves, change in the coaching setup and in the way they go on with their cricket - uncertainty has certainly revolved around Caribbean cricket and now they find themselves locking horns with USA in their opening encounter, a side that was unknown to the cricketing fraternity for so long. Carl Hooper in his recent press release stated this matter and expressed his opinions with utmost brutality- as a viewer of the dominance of the Windies, I along with so many others would agree with him. For their board to be able to extract the most out of its bunch of players, these qualifiers need to be approached with a fierce attitude, ready to ounce on everything till they seal the birth with comfort.
USA, on the other hand come with a fresh piece of mind and renewed excitement. It’s going to be their first time brushing their shoulders against some of the best associate nations and the West Indies. They would look to start on a positive note, give a fight to probably the strongest team in these Qualifiers and if all goes all, may as well upset them?
*WI PROBABLE XI:*
Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Shai Hope(c), Shamarh Brooks, Nicholas Pooran(wk), Rovman Powell, Jason Holdar, Keemo Paul, Akeal Hossain, Alzarri Joseph, Yannic Cariah
Powell comes in with a massive reputation of sending balls out of the park and we saw what he boasts of in the warmup game vs Nepal as he ended up wracking up a big score of 105 off just 55 deliveries for himself, striking at over 190. USA would be keen on not allowing him to be the wrecker in chief in the middle because once he gets his eye in, he proves to be unstoppable with all those heavy blows.
The technically solid Shai Hope, who is a beast in this format loves feasting on bowlers, rotating the strike, playing classy shots along the ground and making the bowlers pay. Him batting at 3 for Windies is a boon and despite him not batting in the warmup, he could be the most important player of their lineup who has the ability to drop anchor as well as adorn the role of an attacker.
Zimbabwe has a history of giving pace friendly fast tracks and I can’t wait to see what Alzarri has to offer if similar tracks are laid out. He is a real asset on bouncy pitches and with his height, he makes life challenging for the batters at the crease. USA are coming on the back of a beating from Srilanka so they know what it feels like to get bundled out for under 200. If USA are to play for pride, the Joseph threat will have to be taken care of carefully.
*USA PROBABLE XI:*
Steven Taylor, Sushant Modani, Monank Patel(c)(wk), Aaron Jones, Saiteja Mukkamwala, Gajanand Singh, Shayan Jahangir, Nisarg Patel, Saurabh Netravalkar, Jessy Singh, Usman Rafiq
Usman Rafiq delivered a good performance giving away 57 and picking up the key wicket of Dhananjaya De Silva while the other bowlers were taken to the cleaners as SL registered 392 in their final warmup game. After that sort of a performance where he was shining light, he is expected to feature in the XI.
Saurabh Netravalkar is another gem who picked up 3 wickets in the two warmups that USA have played in, getting two scalps vs SL, setting the tone upfront as he was instrumental in sending Nissanka back to the dugout. Windies should be vary of what he can do through the course of the game.
Monank Patel, the skipper as well as the gloveman behind the stumps, of this outfit led from the front in both the games with the bat setting an example for the rest of the side to follow. He began his quest to play the Worldcup with two dominant half centuries, one resulting in an one sided loss whereas the other resulting in a slightly competitive loss. He could adorn the role of a captain nicely as he controls his unit from behind the stumps and WI need to restrict him to as low a score possible due to what danger he holds from the batting perspective.
Shayan Jahangir showed guts and tried his level best to get close to glory with a valiant 63 off 51 while chasing 393 vs Srilanka in the final warmup before the much anticipated Qualifiers. He came in at 7,swung and played some sensible cricket as well to ignite some hopes lower down the order. Come 12:30pm, he’d look to execute something similar.
Both the teams are likely to go with a pace heavy attack because of the conditions on offer. And given the superiority of the WI pace attack and their seniority as a cricket side, this may as well turn out to be a proper bashing.
*MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE GAME:*
*FOR WI:*
Highest run getter- Shai Hope/Kyle Mayers
Highest wicket taker- Alzarri Joseph/Yannic Cariah
*FOR USA:*
Highest run getter- Monank Patel/Aaron Jones
Highest wicket taker- Saurabh Netravalkar
*FOR THE GAME:*
West Indies to register a commanding victory to begin their race for a spot in the World Cup. As a cricket fan, I would want to see some counter punches from the United States.