IND vs WI 2026/27, IND vs WI 5th T20I Match Preview

Big picture – A finale a remarkable tour deserves

It all started as a bit of a lark. West Indiesnot even part of the last ODI World Cup and still fighting to get into the next one, arrived in India three weeks or so ago. A time when India were taking more seriously the Asian Games where no other team had sent their strongest squad.

West Indies must forgive us for thinking, two matches in, “now you know why they need to play qualifiers”, “now you know why India can prioritise the Asian Games”. During the third ODI, fresh from the heartbreak of scoring 400 and losing, Shai Hope led a successful chase of 352 with such ease that we went, “Wait a minute, what if they had won the tosses when the series was alive?”

Come the T20Is, both sides were reinforced sans the players India must keep in cotton wool. West Indies levelled the series by chasing down 250 in Ranchia reminder of what might have been had India not had Jasprit Bumrah in the World Cup semi-final earlier this year. You would have thought India were still the superior unit when they defended successfully for the first time during this tour, but West Indies did them one better by doing so in Hyderabad.

Now we have India, not long ago the greatest T20 side put together, vulnerable without Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. And we have West Indies, No. 7 in the ICC’s T20I rankings and No. 10 in ODIs, one win from walking away from a tour of India with honours even. Equally importantly, a first T20I series win for any visiting side in India since February 2019. This could end up as a series we talk about for years to come.

And we have the poor bowlers from either side looking to hang on to any little help they can get. No series or tournament longer than three matches has ever had runs scored at a quicker rate than the 11.49 in this unexpected thriller.

And it will all go down in Bengaluru, where we have small boundaries, good bounce, and a high likelihood of dew, which had thankfully been absent in the last two matches. All bets are now off.

Form guide

India: LWLWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
West Indies: WLWLW

In the spotlight – Shai Hope and Sanju Samson

This has been the tour of Hope: 278 ODI runs off 248 balls, 261 T20I runs off 135 balls, he has gone past Brian Lara as the second-highest ODI centurion from West Indies and past Chris Gayle as the highest in T20Is. There have been two kinds of matches on this tour: ones in which India have dismissed Hope and others in which they haven’t. They have won all four in which they have taken Hope’s wicket, they have lost all three in which Hope stayed unbeaten. No visiting batter has scored five centuries on a bilateral tour of India. Hope has four.

Sanju Samson has not scored hundreds, but he has looked effortless in scoring two half-centuries. His success is tactically important for India. They might not have won the game in Hyderabad, but in scoring a half-century inside the third over, Samson absolutely dominated the one bowler who threatens to slow Abhishek Sharma down, Roston Chase. The offspinner has got India’s two highly feared left-hand batters, Abhishek and Ishan Kishan, twice each and gone at under 1.5 runs a ball to them despite bowling extensively in the powerplay.

Team news: Arshdeep injured

Arshdeep sustained a blow to his bowling shoulder from a Shamar Joseph delivery in what turned out to be the final act of the fourth T20I in Hyderabad. It remains to be seen if he will be fit to play in Bengaluru, but *India have added Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who last played an international game in November 2022, and was due to make his comeback during the New Zealand tour later this month – to their squad as cover for Arshdeep.

Meanwhile, the reason for leaving Kuldeep Yadav out in Indore persists in Bengaluru: small boundaries. Unless we get a surprisingly dry pitch with turn in it, he is likely to remain on the bench.

India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Prince Yadav, 10 Mayank Yadav, 11 Arshdeep Singh/Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

West Indies might have found their best combination with Jewel Andrew replacing Kamil Pooran at the top of the order, and Romario Shepherd back after injury. Despite an economy rate of 14.17 for Shamar Joseph, West Indies are likely to retain him because they don’t have another option with that kind of pace in their squad.

West Indies (probable): 1 Shai Hope (capt & wk), 2 Jewel Andrew, 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Rovman Powell, 5 Sherfane Rutherford, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Roston Chase, 8 Shamar Springer, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Gudakesh Motie.

Pitch and conditions

We know from the IPL that Bengaluru is another batting paradise unless something goes really wrong with the pitch preparation. The weather, though, does not look great. There could be rain interruptions, possibly significant ones.

Stats and trivia

Ninety-eight sixes have been hit in this series. The record for most in a bilateral series featuring two ICC full members is 120. The overall record is 132 between Austria and Germany.
West Indies haven’t beaten India in India in a series of any format since 2002.

*GMT 0900 The preview was updated with the news that Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been added to India’s squad

Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at Cricinfo

Source: www.cricinfo.com