India will take on West Indies in their second match of the ICC Women's World Cup in Taunton today.
India and West Indies have had contrasting starts to their campaigns. While Mithali Raj's side continued its excellent ODI form with a comprehensive 35-run win over England, Windies was exposed by Australia. It is still waiting for its first victory since landing in England.
The ladies from the Caribbean have struggled to translate their free-flowing approach from the T20 game into the ODI format. The top three, bar Hayley Matthews, have let too many balls go waste, unable to find that balance between being expressive and ensuring the side plays out the full 50 overs. A shake-up of the batting order, with Stafanie Taylor, the side's best batter, coming in at No.3 might be advised.
Windies should also emphasise partnerships - there were too many wickets gifted to the Australian bowlers and fielders, and not enough emphasis on rotating the strike.
India is well aware of many of these deficiencies, having swept Windies 3-0 when it came visiting last November. Raj, however, might have to shift from her focus on spin, given the rainy conditions. Pakistan, for example, was left ruing its selections when England went after its slower bowlers.
Following are some facts about the two teams-
• India have won each of their last four ODI matches versus West Indies and have claimed wins in all five of their previous meetings against them in the Women's World Cup.
• India come into this match having won 18 of their last 19 in ODI cricket (L1) whilst West Indies have gone five matches without a win (L5).
• This will be the second time that West Indies will have played in Taunton (L1); India have had four previous experiences there in ODI cricket, losing three times (W1).
• West Indies duo, Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin are both set to reach 100 ODI appearances in this game.
• Mithali Raj (India) has averaged 148.3 across her seven ODI innings during 2017.
India: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Poonam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Sushma Verma, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Nuzhat Parween.
West Indies: Stafanie Taylor, Merissa Aguilleira, Reniece Boyce, Shamilia Connell, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Qiana Joseph, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters, Shakera Selman, Felicia Walters.
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