Ahead of the crucial clash between India and West Indies at the Eden Gardens for the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, former Indian spinner Piyush Chawla has advised the Indian team not to aim for a big score as it may often result in them getting out with less runs.
India has won its second match against Zimbabwe, and on the other hand, West Indies has lost the match to South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium, which has made the India vs West Indies match a do or die game for either of these two teams.
However, there is one condition that is not talked about much. What happens if the match is canceled due to rain? In such a case, India will be out, and West Indies will lose due to their higher run rate compared to the Men in Blue.
Piyush Chawla said, “Any team that thinks of 220-230 can get bundled out for 160 runs.”
Ahead of the crucial clash between India and West Indies that will decide the World Cup fate for both the teams, cricketer turned commentator Piyush Chawla has said that if either of the two teams go into the game thinking of a big score, they are likely to collapse before even reaching the par score.
The former spinner, who has been a part of KKR for many years in his IPL career, has played a lot at the Eden Gardens and is well aware of the dynamics of the ground. When Chawla was asked whether a total of 220-230 runs can be expected from the two best batting units in this T20 World Cup, he gave a surprising opinion.
He replied, “The pressure of the World Cup is a little different. So teams don’t go there to score 220-230. Even if you score 190 there, because of that pressure it becomes 210 and any team that thinks of 220-230 can get bowled out at 160.”
“A lot depends on how the team starts in the powerplay.” -Piyush Chawla
The spinner further claimed that the powerplay score will be the deciding factor on how big the final score will be. It seems clear from his words that he fully believes that the batsmen will have the upper hand at Eden Gardens.
“So the thought process matters a lot there. A lot depends on how the team starts in the powerplay. However, you never go into such a high-pressure game thinking about 220-230,” Chawla said.
West Indies posted the third-highest score in ICC T20 World Cup history during their Super-8 encounter against Zimbabwe in this edition, and India surpassed them with a total of 256 runs in their second Super-8 encounter against the same opposition.
Piyush Chawla has placed a big bet on Indian spinners for the match against West Indies.
As the former India World Cup winner believes, the batsmen of either of these two teams will handle the power play and death overs equally well, with the middle overs being the turning point in the game.
He said, “The middle overs will be very important in this game. The teams will play almost equally in the powerplay and the last five to six overs because the pitch at Eden Gardens is like this and the ground is a bit small.”
He pinned his hopes on Indian spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel and said that if they can control the game without leaking too much during the middle stages, India will have the upper hand in the innings.
“However, in the middle overs phase, if the Indian spinners bowl restrictively where Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel will have a big role, then the Indian team can dominate the West Indies batsmen there,” Chawla said.
Also read: India vs Pakistan clash in T20 World Cup 2026 still possible!
