India vs West Indies 2nd T20I, Preview: Men in Blue look to continue winning run in Lucknow

The opening T20I summed up at least part of the limited-overs portion of the Windies’ difficult tour of India: so close, yet so far. Team India’s first ever home T20I without MS Dhoni in the side (of a total of 32) didn’t entirely go to plan, with the home side crumbling to 45/4 chasing a target of under a run a ball.

This Windies tour has become a great opportunity to take international cricket to parts of the country that rarely experience the elite product, and the Uttar Pradesh city of Lucknow gets its turn as it inaugurated a new stadium – the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

A West Indies side full of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) stars, as well as the return of veterans Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo, couldn’t get the job done with the bat and yet still managed to turn their meagre 109 into a difficult chase for the hosts in Kolkata.

With victory in the first T20I, India have now won nine of their last ten in the shortest format of the game, and seven in a row when chasing.

Conversely, the Windies have won just two of their last 11 (No Result 1, Defeats 8), with one at home against Bangladesh and another against a piecemeal World XI team.

The Lucknow locals will be kicking off Diwali celebrations a day early when the Windies come to town and we can expect this 50,000-seater stadium to be packed as the city hosts international cricket for the first time in 24 years.

The Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium has hosted four first-class (Ranji and Duleep Trophies) matches, with the average runs per wicket at 27.7. It has a fairly large outfield, with straight boundaries of 65+ yards and square boundaries of 87+ yards.

Players to watch: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (India) are just eight runs apart for the calendar year (445-437), both with strike rates in the mid-140s. It’s almost certain that at least one of them will have a big inning. Whereas Oshane Thomas (Windies) displayed the kind of express pace and variation in game 1 that earned him a league-best 18 wickets in the CPL. He has dismissed Dhawan three times this tour, conceding just ten runs from the Indian opener.

Stat attack: India have won their last five T20Is at home.

Milestone: Shikhar Dhawan needs just 27 more runs to reach 1,000 T20I runs. Whereas, Jasprit Bumrah is now in the top 30 in the world for lowest T20I economy rates with 6.75 (min. 500 balls, including retired/inactive players)