World Cup, WI vs India preview: Ahead of a vital match, Mithali Raj and Co need to find some intent

West Indies have already ended two streaks at the World Cup so far and they will fancy their chances against a shaky India, who should frankly be hurting after a dismal performance against New Zealand in their last match.

Their recent form aside, West Indies are an opponent that the Indian team has come to like. The match will be the seventh time they face each other in the ICC Women’s World Cup. India is unbeaten so far, winning on all six occasions.

They have also played 19 ODIs between them excluding the World Cups. India again have the upper hand in the historical head-to-head battle, winning 14 of those encounters, compared to West Indies’ 5. They last faced each other in a three-match bilateral series at Antigua in 2019, and it was won by India 2-1.

But while India can count on past performances for inspiration, the West Indies will be looking to continue their form in this competition after victories over higher-ranked teams in New Zealand and England. A win here would put them on top of the points table.

West Indies will be hopeful that their captain, Stafanie Taylor maintains her excellent record against India and returns to form. In her 17 innings against India, Taylor has scored 614 runs at an average of 38.37, including five 50s. She has also taken 18 wickets with the ball at an economy of just 3.2.

Deandra Dottin’s performance with the ball and the brilliant catch she took in the last match will have her feeling good about her game and she could be pretty dangerous for India.

On the other hand, India’s bowling allrounder Pooja Vastrakar will be the one to watch in this game after claiming her career-best figures of 4/34 against New Zealand. She also produced a game-changing knock of 67 (from 59 balls) with the bat in their opening encounter against Pakistan.

But the pressure will be on the seniors to come through. Harmanpreet Kaur showed some signs of coming back to form but coach Ramesh Powar wants more from his senior batters.

“I want seniors to be putting their hand up - like Mithali, Smriti, Jhulan and win us the game single handedly because their participation in the win - and their contribution in the wins will brush to the younger players, because we have inexperienced players as well as experienced players,” said Powar.

That aside, India’s players will need to show the intent that was severely lacking in the first 20 overs against New Zealand. They will have to come out and be aggressive and show that they truly want to win this against the West Indies for if they don’t, their World Cup hopes will hang by a thread.

With inputs from ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 and ESPNCricinfo Statsguru. All statistics mentioned for women’s One Day Internationals unless otherwise stated.