"Will Quit This Show": Pakistan Star's Explosive Prediction For India vs West Indies Clash In T20 World Cup

Ignored Pakistan cricket team batter Ahmed Shehzad said that he was absolutely confident that India will beat West Indies to reach the T20 World Cup semifinal. India face West Indies in a virtual quarter-final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. While former Pakistan pacer Mohammed Amir predicted that India will be eliminated from the Super 8 stage, Shehzad disagreed with him and even decided to raise the stakes of his prediction. "If India win the match, we will take the title of 'astrologer' from Amir. And if India fail to reach the semifinals, I will quit this show," Shehzad said on the show 'Haarna Mana Hai'.

Meanwhile, one of the hallmarks of this edition of T20 World Cup has been the depth of the various batting units and the increasing propensity of the batters to take the high risk-high reward route.

The success has been of varying degrees for all teams but no one has actually taken a step back, a case in point is the West Indies team, which despite its heavy defeat against the Proteas showed what batting depth really means.

Despite being seven down for less than 90, West Indies managed 176, thanks to all-rounder Romario Shepherd scoring 37-ball-52 at No. 9.

"I don't think there's many line-ups that can boast of Romario Shepherd walking in at number nine," India's assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate conceded during the pre-match press conference.

"I think that's also a feature of all the teams in the tournament now. Certainly the teams that have done well. England bat really deep. New Zealand bats really deep. India bats really deep. We have the luxury of someone like Axar, if he doesn't come in early, coming in at eight." When the teams are playing the proverbial attack at all cost game, then the strategy of containment doesn't necessarily work.

And if one looks at a batting line-up that comprises Shai Hope, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, then taking wickets is the only solution.

"So you have to focus on taking wickets. I think that old-school way of just containing for 20 overs has gone out of fashion. We feel West Indies play a risk-reward game of high proportion in both aspects of that." But Ten Doeschate feels that the bowling unit can find chinks in the Caribbean armoury and follow the Proteas template.

"As a bowling unit, we're really looking forward to that challenge. We know there's chinks. There's where we can get wickets. Our plan tomorrow will be to attack for the whole 20 overs and take them back in that very much like South Africa did." But on a hard Eden Gardens black soil surface, which promises to be full of runs, taking wickets will be a bigger challenge as compared to Ahmedabad.

"It's certainly going to be a challenge. The surface looks pretty good, so it could be a hard-scoring game. As well as throwing punches with the ball, we have to make sure that we're brave with the bat as well and maintain a high strike rate and high intent throughout the inning as well."

(With agency inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Ahmed Shehzad Mohammad Amir T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket