Following a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of India, Windies will begin its ODI campaign with the first match at Providence Stadium in Guyana. Although the Indian squad looks stronger on paper, here are four players who could pose a challenge to the visitor in the upcoming series.
Sheldon Cottrell: Cottrell emerged as the top wicket-taker for the West Indies during the recently concluded World Cup in England. He left his mark not just with his effective bowling and acrobatic fielding, but also with his trademark salute celebrations. His ability to bring the new ball back into the right-hander early in the innings saw him pick four wickets in three T20Is against India, at an economy rate of 5.91.
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Shai Hope: Hope had a rather quiet World Cup by his standards, scoring 274 runs in nine matches at an average of 34.25 including three fifties. The West Indies keeper-batsman had broken the world record for the highest partnership for the first wicket in one-day internationals with John Campbell, when they put on 365 against Ireland at Dublin in May this year.
Campbell scored 179 (137 balls, 15 fours and six sixes) while Hope scored 170 (152 balls, 22 fours and two sixes). Campbell and Hope surpassed the previous opening-stand record held by Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman when they scored 304 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in July 2018.
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Roston Chase: The tall off-spinner, Chase, played his first one-day international against Afghanistan in 2017 but has since, featured in only 16 ODIs scoring 233 runs and picking four wickets. The all-rounder from Barbados showed he belonged when he scored his fourth international 100 in a Test match against India in Hyderabad in 2018. He made good use of his reach to smother whatever little turn the flat Hyderabad wicket had to offer. Windies would hope he can add spine to the middle-order.
Shimron Hetmyer: After a dismal Test series — 50 runs in four innings — against India last year, Hetmyer turned things around in the ODIs. The left-hander, who is a Brian Lara fan, smashed a hundred and a game-changing 94 in the first two ODIs against India. Hetmyer first came into the limelight when he led the West Indies to the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup title, following which he earned a place in the senior side.
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