Former India captain Sourav Ganguly predicted on Saturday that the crucial Super Eights match against the West Indies in Kolkata will be a “high-scoring” encounter and urged the home team’s batters to perform at their peak.
Along with South Africa from Group 1, the winner of Sunday’s game at Eden Gardens will advance to the semifinals.
The West Indies defeated the hosts in the semifinals to win the championship the last time it was held in India.
“What happened in the past doesn’t matter. They won in 2016, 10 years ago. Both are good teams, everyone knows that it’s a do or die match. Both teams can win,” PTI quoted Ganguly, who is currently the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), told reporters on the eve of the match, as saying.
The former BCCI president added, “They (West Indies) have some very good players. There is Romario Shephard, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer… there are a lot of power-hitters in the West Indies team. We will have to bat well, this is going to be a high-scoring game.”
The same pitch that saw Scotland score the first 200-plus total in the competition will be the track for the virtual quarterfinal matchup with the West Indies.
The West Indies have a little advantage in that regard because they have already played and won two group league games at Eden Gardens (against Scotland and Italy), even though India will be playing their first match there in this tournament.
Following South Africa’s victory over the West Indies and India’s elimination of Zimbabwe on Thursday, this Super Eights match has essentially become a knockout match.
