The 16th game of the ICC World T20 will see the West Indian side play Sri Lanka at Bridgetown in Barbados. This is the first game for both the sides in the Super Eights, and with two, strong competitors in India and Australia, to follow this game, both teams will understand the value of winning this one.
West Indies won both their games in the first round of the competition, but were helped by the Guyana rain in one of them. Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand, and had a fight on their hands against Zimbabwe, when rain assisted them as well, and they were through to the Super Eights.
Between the two sides, the home conditions will assist the West Indian team, especially on a track which may not allow the spin bowlers to have as much as the previous pitches at St. Lucia and Guyana. This will mean that West Indies (6/5 at Ladbrokes) will have, a more than a decent chance, to usurp Sri Lanka (4/5 at Blue Square), despite the punters thinking otherwise.
The Sri Lankan batting battery is clearly struggling to adjust to the West Indian pitches. Mahela Jayawardene (5/2 at Ladbrokes to top-score for Sri Lanka) tops the run-charts in the tournament with a century and an 81 to boot, but the rest of the batsmen are currently in strife. The woefully out of form, Tillakaratne Dilshan (4/1 at Bet365) may get another chance, but the time is running out for him, and he needs to get a score under his belt before the side gets Sanath Jayasuriya (10/1 at Ladbrokes, both to be the best batsmen for their side) back into the opening slot.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara (7/2 at Bet Fred to top-score for Sri Lanka) will need to take more onus on himself and get going with the bat, to set an example for the rest of the side.
West Indies, on the other hand, have not had a great chance to bat, with the track at Guyana not allowing them too many runs in the Ireland game before rain ruining any chances of anything more than the six overs they batted. This will mean that Chris Gayle (7/2 at Ladbrokes to top-score for West Indies) has still to unleash and do what he had done in the very first game of the ICC World T20 in 2007 – smash a century! However, what has been more interesting to observe is the batting of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (7/2 at Ladbrokes to top-score for West Indies) and his attempts at reverse-sweeping the ball; clearly, even he realises that one needs to reinvent oneself in this format or be left out.
However, I get the sense that Ramnaresh Sarwan (5/1 at Totesport) could just be the man for the West Indies, against an attack which relies heavily on spin bowling. His nature of using his feet against the slow bowlers will help the side overcome their deficiencies against the spinners.
Tips:
Favourites: West Indies (6/5 at Ladbrokes)
Top West Indies batsman: Ramnaresh Sarwan (5/1 at Totesport)
Top Sri Lanka batsman: Kumar Sangakkara (7/2 at Bet Fred)
