VISAKHAPATNAM, India, CMC – West Indies will be looking to rebound from their nail-biting on
The YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium has gained a reputation for high-scoring and the pattern is expected to continue. Teams have passed 250 in each of the six ODI innings here – twice while chasing successfully.
In the opening match, West Indies had India on the run at 59 for five in the 12th over as they chased 212 in the full allotment of 50 overs. But a few tactical errors proved to be their undoing as India triumphed with seven balls to spare.
In-form left-hander Darren Bravo led the West Indies batting in Cuttack with 60 off 74 balls and there is a need for the other specialist batsmen to produce, among them Bravo’s fellow Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, whose aggregate of 880 runs at an average of 21.46 in 47 ODIs can be described as disappointing for a player with his ability in this format of the game.
One of the selection issues facing the West Indies would be whether to give off-spinner Sunil Narine his debut in place of the ebullient leg-spinner Anthony Martin.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy said his team must find a way to beat India.
“Yeah, we keep getting close but we need to find a way to win. We took India all the way down to the wire defending a small total at Cuttack.
“The guys have taken a lot of confidence from that performance. We had our moments and now we just need to put our head down and focus on the basics,” Sammy said.
“We’re playing one of the best teams in the world, one which has won its last 10 home ODIs. We have our task cut out and we’ll have to come up with the goods, mentally and tactically. A win may be around the corner, who knows it may happen tomorrow.”
Sammy refused to read too much in the pitch, which is acknowledged to be an out and out belter.
“This looks like a good wicket. Even the pitch at Cuttack looked like a belter, but it sure didn’t turn out to be that way. We just need to concentrate on our game and everything else will take care of itself,” he said.
Meantime, Rohit Sharma, whose knock of 72 off 99 balls put India on course in Cuttack, said he was experiencing mixed feelings following the exciting win and was looking forward to batting on the pitch here.
“It felt good but it was a little disappointing because I could not finish the game. Leaving the last pair to get the winning runs is something we don’t want to do again. But the pitch here has always been a belter. The last time we chased down 289 against Australia with five wickets in hand. It will be nice batting here.”
Rohit also had a word of praise for India’s upcoming pacemen — Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar, who had scythed through the West Indian top-order at Cuttack.
“The other day Ravi Shastri (former India all-rounder and now television commentator) was speaking highly of Varun and Umesh. I hope they have a bright future and keep getting us early breakthroughs,” he said.
West Indies – Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons.
India – Virender Sehwag (captain), Varun Aaron, Ravichandran Ashwin, Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Abhimany Mithun, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Rahul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
