IND vs WI 2023: 3 player battles to watch out for in 4th T20I

India and West Indies (WI) now head to the USA where the final leg of the T20I series is set to be played at Lauderhill, Florida. The visitors dished out a sensational performance with their backs to the wall in the third game in Guyana to ensure that the series was still alive.

Hardik Pandya and Co. were disciplined in the field and then the batters led by Suryakumar Yadav went out there and got the job done. This will have given them a lot of confidence in their ability to bounce back from any situation.

WI, on the other hand, will know that other batters apart from Nicholas Pooran need to step up as they seem a bit overdependent on the southpaw. On that note, let's take a look at three interesting match-ups in the upcoming T20I on August 12:

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#3 Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Obed McCoy

Yashasvi Jaiswal had a sensational start to his international career, smashing 171 in his first Test. However, his T20I debut didn't went quite well as he was dismissed by Obed McCoy for just 1.

Jaiswal and McCoy have shared the dressing room in the IPL for the Rajasthan Royals and naturally seem to know something about each other's strengths and weaknesses. With Jaiswal's aggressive mindset, the southpaw will be itching to come out all guns blazing and set the records straight.

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#2 Shubman Gill vs Alzarri Joseph

Another pair of cricketers who represent the same IPL team, Alzarri Joseph seems to have the wood firmly over Shubman Gill at the moment. The opener has hit a bit of a rough patch in the Caribbean and will be hopeful that the good pitch in Florida would help him score big.

However, Joseph has already dismissed the right-hander twice in T20Is, conceding just six runs in 10 balls. Generally a slow starter, it will be interesting to see if Gill walks out to bat with a different mindset on Saturday.

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#1 Nicholas Pooran vs Hardik Pandya

Indian captain Hardik Pandya was pretty vocal about how they planned to keep Nicholas Pooran at bay in the third T20I. Understanding that Pooran is great against spin, Hardik got his spinners' overs early and had pacers mostly bowl to Pooran.

After the game, Hardik also left a cheeky comment, indirectly challenging Pooran to go after him in the fourth T20I. Here's what he had said:

“If Nicky wants to hit, let him hit me and that was the plan, I enjoy such competition. I know he is going to hear this and will come hard at me in the fourth T20I."

Pooran has scored just 45 runs in 44 balls that he has faced from Hardik in T20 cricket and has also been dismissed once. This is arguably the most intriguing match-up given the build-up to it.