India know what it is like to play the West Indies, having faced them across all formats several times in recent seasons; they also know what it is like to play with them as their teammates - after all the West Indies are probably the second most important representative country in the IPL after the India players themselves.
[Read the report HERE]
So, come Sunday when India vs West Indies takes court in Mirpur, it will be about who can overcome their familiarity with each other and just go slam-bang, wicket-train here we come, and end up on the winning side.
MS Dhoni and co. were quite impressive in their opening match against Pakistan, easing past their big rivals to open the World T20 with a spanking win.
Everything that could go right did so in that match, with the spinners, particularly Amit Mishra, bowling exceedingly well to choke the run-hitting life out of the Pakistan batsmen.
The spinners and the pacers will again be needed to be at their best against a West Indies side which can hit sixes at will, just like Suresh Raina observed. "They are a completely different team [to Pakistan], they have players who can hits sixes," said Raina, who showed some good form with the bat against Pakistan, making an unbeaten 35.
"They do not know much of rotating the strike against spinners, with ones and twos. It is important we put early pressure."
Darren Sammy, always laughing and someone who rarely looks intense on the field or outside, did not take too kindly to that assessment from Raina, and answered back in kind. "We don't care much about what Raina thinks," Sammy said. "If he thinks we are only six-hitters, then stop us from hitting sixes."
The ones and twos, or the lack thereof, is something that has been under the scanner for WI for a while now, but in the T20 game they are able to overcome that problem courtesy their sheer firepower. Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle can hit the boundaries at will, and the power-hitting shows no signs of abating with the likes of Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Sammy himself to come down the order.
So, much will depend on how the India spinners bowl against these six-loving batsmen, and if the likes of Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin can restrict the WI players and force them to look for the ones and twos, then India will have control of the game.
"The good thing about our team is that we don't rely on any one player," Sammy said. "We have at least four, five, six potential match-winners in our side. Spin will play an important part in this tournament and the team which can handle spin better will come out victorious but I am quite happy about the team we have here.
"In the short format, the bulk of the runs will come from the top four or five batsmen and I think we are very strong at the top of the order."
The stage is set, the gauntlet has been hurled out - now all that remains is to do the talking on the field, and the team that does just that will walk out of the ground with big, wide grins on their faces.
[Read the Pakistan vs Australia report HERE]
Where to Watch Live:
World T20 2014: India vs West Indies Live TV and Streaming Information (Match starts 7.30 pm local time, 7 pm IST, 1.30 pm GMT, 9.30 am ET)
| Country | TV Broadcaster |
| India | Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1, Doordarshan |
| US and Latin America | ESPN |
| Canada | Sportsnet |
| UK and Ireland | Sky Sports |
| Middle East and North Africa | OSN Sport Cricket |
| Australia | Fox Sports |
| Sub Saharan Africa & South Africa | SuperSport |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport |
| Europe | EuroSport |
| Pakistan | PTV and Ten Sports |
| Sri Lanka | CSN |
| Bangladesh | Bangladesh TV, Maasranga TV and Gazi TV |
| Country | Live Streaming information |
| India | HERE |
| US | HERE |
| UK | HERE |
| Middle East | HERE |
| Canada | HERE or HERE |
| Australia | HERE |
| South Africa & Sub Saharan Africa | HERE |
| Latin America | HERE |
| New Zealand | HERE |
| Europe | HERE |
| Pakistan | HERE or HERE |
| Sri Lanka | HERE |
Team news: India: Dhoni is unlikely to make any changes to his side, and the XI that was picked against Pakistan is expected to come out against the Windies as well, barring any last-minute injuries.
West Indies: With one of the big hitters - Kieron Pollard -- out of the tournament, Andre Russell is expected to be the beneficiary after featuring in the recent series against England, but with West Indies having plenty of all-rounders in their lineup already, they might decide to go with another specialist bowler.
Expected lineups: India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra.
West Indies: Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy (capt), Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Sunil, Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree.
