 India will play the West Indies in a four-match ODI series and the first
game will be played at Kingston in Jamaica on Friday. India has already reached
West Indies, directly from England, where their World T20 campaign ended
on an unhappy note as they crashed out before getting to the semi-finals. West
Indies, on the other hand, reached the semi-finals but lost to Sri Lanka
in a one-sided match.
India has had quite a few changes to their squad from what had played in the
World T20 and the one that last played an ODI series in New Zealand. Sachin
Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have opted out to rest their minor niggles, while
Virender Sehwag's injured shoulder means that he may be out for more than a
couple of months and Suresh Raina has been ruled out due to a fractured
finger.
Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan have been axed following an extended run which
saw them get mediocre performances under their belt.
In place of them, R.P.Singh has been given a chance to prove that his IPL deeds
were no flash in the pan, while Ashish Nehra makes a long awaited comeback
to the side. Murali Vijay and S.Badrinath prop up the top and the middle-order
respectively, while Abhishek Nayar will be on his first international tour.
Dinesh Karthik has been chosen as the reserve wicket-keeper to the beleaguered
M.S.Dhoni.
In all probabilities, the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj
Singh, M.S.Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant
Sharma and R.P.Singh should make it to the playing eleven for the first game.
The remaining two slots need to be shared by a batsman and in all probabilities
an all-rounder. This is why, one of the two, Vijay or Badrinath have a reasonable
chance, but then so has Karthik, while Nayar helps his own cause by being the
only medium-pace bowler who can bat. He could make his debut in the first ODI
as well.
The West Indian selectors have made a couple of really surprising calls in
dropping Darren Sammy and Lendl Simmons, both of whom have been decent
bowlers, with Simmons even been partially responsible for the Indian defeat
in their Super Eights game. This effectively means that there will be a lot
of over-reliance on the West Indian captain, Chris Gayle for their batting.
However, it must not be forgotten that Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnaraine Chanderpaul are good enough players of the fifty-over format and could provide
that surprise element if the Indian bowlers do not plan for them as well. Dwayne
Bravo had been the man responsible for India's last series defeat in West Indies
- 4-1 - and he is one who can never be taken lightly. To add to that, Bravo
will be supported by his batting brother, Darren, who may make his debut as
well.
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