3 Players To Watch Out During West Indies vs England 2nd T20I

Bhargav Dixit

England celebrate a wicket. [Source: @englandcricket/X]England celebrate a wicket. [Source: @englandcricket/X]

Targets have been successfully achieved only 11 out of the 31 T20Is which have produced results at the Kensington Oval. England, who sealed a 183-run chase with 19 balls and eight wickets to spare against the home team last night, managed to register the highest successful run-chase in Bridgetown T20Is.

In what was an enthralling stroke-filled contest consisting of 26 fours and 23 sixes, not a lot should change in the second T20I scheduled to begin at the same venue in a few hours from now. Three players to watch out for during the second West Indies-England T20I are:

Jos Buttler

England captain Jos Buttler’s return to international cricket after over four months lasted for just one ball. In what was a prototypical anti-climax, Buttler casually guiding a short and wide delivery to third-man resulted in his dismissal because of an unbelievable catch.

Buttler, however, was agile in his new role of a specialist fielder. Having grabbed catches at slip and cover, the 34-year-old player proved his fitness. Arguably England’s best limited-overs player, Buttler would now want to prove himself as a batter. Not that he needs to prove anything to anyone but he wouldn't mind runs under his belt to get going after a halt.

Batting for the 115th time in the shortest format at the highest level, the right-handed batter batted at No. 3 only for the second time. With both the innings coming in the last 20 months, it remains a newer role for him.

Speaking of new roles, Buttler also didn’t keep wickets on Saturday and might continue playing as a specialist batter in the future. In this role, his 174 runs at an average and strike rate of 15.81 and 132.82 respectively across 15 innings are far-flung from his career average and strike rate of 35.47 and 146.23. With his sole half-century in this aspect coming in West Indies, he would be keen to set the ball rolling in Barbados tonight.

Adil Rashid

England’s highest T20I wicket-taker in the last 12 months (and otherwise), Rashid picked three crucial wickets in the middle overs in the first match. Second-highest wicket-taker (highest among visiting bowlers) at this ground on the back of dismissing 15 batters at an average of 16.80, an economy rate of 6.63 and a strike rate of 15.20, England would be banking on their most experienced bowler especially against Andre Russell and others.

Gudakesh Motie

Nowhere near the best of his T20I bowling performances, West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie picking bowling figures of 4-0-45-1 made him the pick of their bowlers on November 9. Motie, however, has started to develop this meritorious knack of contributing across departments lately.

Responsible for the aforementioned unbelievable catch, Motie, batting at No. 10, also scored 33 (14) with the help of four fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 235.71. West Indies’ highest T20I wicket-taker in 2024, the 29-year-old player’s last two T20I innings have seen him score 65 (29) at a strike rate of 224.13.

Having played a career-best knock, his solitary international half-century, in a record-breaking partnership in an ODI against Sri Lanka last month, Motie seems to have it in him to add to his team’s ever-increasing batting depth.