Kieron Pollard smacked balls in the practice session at the Eden Gardens, Darren Bravo looked pristine even as he belted the balls; the West Indies, the defending T20I champions are in town and despite, the reversals in Tests and ODIs, the big boys from the Caribbean remain the biggest threat for India in the upcoming series.
Historically too, India have not fared well against Windies, and despite being dominant in the format this year, Rohit Sharma and company have to be wary against the Calypso kings.
The two teams have played each other eight times in this format and India have managed to win only a couple while Windies have walked away with five games. One game played in Lauderhill was washed away.
Prolific record at home
However, the Indian team has been in good form ever since they were knocked out by Windies in the 2016 World T20 in Mumbai. Led by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma across different series, India have played 12 series out of which seven were minimum of three matches and have clinched all the seven series.
Since 2017, India's win-rate has been the third best in the world. With 19 wins from 26 T20Is since 2017, India's win % of 73.08 is the third best after Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan, who won their T20 series against New Zealand, lead this pack with an emphatic record of winning 23 games out of the 27 played.
As has been the case over the last years, India's dominance at home has been unprecedented as they have won 8 out of 11 T20Is with a win-rate of 72.73%.
Similar to the ODIs, India's top order has been a prolific machine even in the shortest format. Since 2017, India's top order scored 2463 runs in 26 matches at an average of 33 and with a strike-rate 146, which is the best in the world.
Also, the middle-order is one of the most consistent in the world in this format. It has scored 1634 runs in 26 matches at a strike rate of 139 and an average of almost 35. These numbers are the best amongst all the teams and this makes the batting a formidable unit.
