The second match of the tournament will be played between West Indies (WI) and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The match will be telecast at 8:00 P.M. (IST) and 10:30 A.M. (local).
Teams Analysis:
West Indies (WI):
The two times champion team will definitely want to provide a solid start from the beginning of the T20 World Cup. In the warm-up match against Australia, they just showed a pure rampage in their batting and won the match by 35 runs. They have a huge and destructive batting unit who can bat at number 10 position also. Being a co-host of the tournament, they might give a tough fight to the teams out there.
The specialist Caribbean all-rounder, Rovman Powell, will lead the team for the first time in any ICC event. He has the tendency to hit hard in the death overs and might get some important breakthroughs in the middle of the innings. He has a strike rate of 144.81 in international circuits and has one century and six half-centuries to his name.
Nicholas Pooran has been in brilliant form in the last few months. In each league where he participated played some impactful games and took his team to victory in most of the matches. He carries the tendency to get hard in the death overs and can easily switch the gears according to the team’s need. Brandon King, the opener of the team has shown tremendous patience in this shortest format. He is not a big hitter but has the ability to rotate the strike well. He has a strike rate of 134.94 in which he got past 50+ ten times.
Johnson Charles and Shai Hope are most likely to open the innings for the team. Charles is known for his destructive batting while Hope is known for rotating the strike. Both of them are a deadly combo of hot and cold. Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell and Sherfane Rutherford are known for his huge striking rates. These are the real threats to the bowlers in the death overs and if they keep going then a world record might be created.
Their bowling might not be that stable as compared to that of batting but the seamers Shamar Joseph, Alzarri Joseph and Romario Shepherd have the ability to strike early. Shamar will play his first ICC event and with this short span of his career, he impressed the selectors with his fierce bowling and perfect line and length.
Spinning department will be handled by Gudakesh Motie and Roston Chase. Gudakesh has a brilliant season in CPL 2023 and might give him the momentum to perform well in this format again while Chase can contribute well in the batting department also.
Probable Playing 11 for West Indies (WI):
Rovman Powell, Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Alzarri Joseph.
Papua New Guinea (PNG):
This team has been performing well for a while but was not able to make the cut into the next round of the ICC events. With their consistency they managed to mark their name into the round 1 of the T20 World Cup and the first match of them will be against the hosting nation and two times world champion.
The leader of the team, Assad Vala, carries huge experience in the cricketing level. He has been providing a good amount of runs with the bat and with the bowl also he got some wickets. In 59 matches with 8 half-centuries, he scored 1244 runs and has taken 34 wickets till now. Tony Ura, the opening batter of the team has been well known for his aggression as his strike rate in international circuit is 156.02 and got one century and 14 half-centuries to his name. He has been a consistent performer of the team.
Lega Siaka, the other opening batter of the team, has been a little defensive in comparison to Ura, but his calm nature helped Ura to score in an aggressive way. He has only one 50+ to his name in 52 innings and the team is expecting more from him. Hiri Hiri, the middle order batter has scored 318 runs till now in which one half-century was included.
Charles Amini, the other middle order batter of the team is little consistent than other middle order batters as he contributed 994 runs to his name. With a strike rate of 118.61, he scored 5 half-centuries. The other dependable batter is Sese Bau, who scored three 50+ knocks under his credit. Though he gets little slow in the mid overs due to which his strike rate dipped down to 111.93.
Kiplin Doriga, the keeper of the team has been little out of sight with the bat as he is yet to score a half-century in the international circuit. His best is 46 runs.
Norman Vanua is the most experienced bowler in the team as he took 63 wickets in 50 innings. Though he is a specialist medium pace bowler but can also contribute with the bat in lower down the order. The left arm pacer Kabua Morea has taken 32 wickets in 19 matches and might be helpful for the team in the early spells.
Alei Nao is the opening bowler of the team and in 14 matches he took 15 wickets. His economy is also brilliant, which is 6.41, in which batters find it difficult to play shots easily. Chad Soper has been also equally providing wickets to the wickets and has named 32 wickets till now. His average is below 17 (16.90) which will help to stop the opposition quite easily.
Probable Playing 11 of Papua New Guinea (PNG):
Assad Vala ©, Tony Ura, Lega Siaka, Hiri Hiri, Charles Amini, Sese Bau, Kiplin Doriga, Norman Vanua, Kabua Morea, Alei Nao and Chad Soper.
Pitch report for the match between WI and PNG:
The match will be played at Providence Stadium, Guyana. The pitch is mostly a balanced one as both the departments will be effective here. Here only two matches were played and both of them were won by the chasing team. Not many big scores were seen as the projected score here might be close to 160. Also the bowlers will get a huge advantage at the start as it will turn and swing both ways a little bit.
Weather Report:
The match is under the radar of huge rain as it is expected that 80% chance of rain will be there on the match day which will not exploit the mood of the fans but also the home team will not be shown their full potential. Due to thunderstorms the humidity will touch 81%. The highest temperature is expected to be around 30 degree celsius while the lowest will be close to 26 degree celsius.
Best 11 for the match between WI and PNG:
Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran, Shai Hope, Tony Ura, Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Assad Vala, Roston Chase, Alzaari Joseph, Shamar Joseph.