Preview: West Indies v India - 1st ODI
First Published : 06 Jun 2011, 14:24
Last Modified : 30 Nov 2011, 08:54
What
The first of the five One-Day Internationals between West Indies and India
When
June 6, 2011. The game begins at 6:30 pm, IST.
Where
Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Based on the evidence offered in the T20 match played over here on June 4, the wicket here has something in it for the batsmen as well as the bowlers. West Indies captain and pace bowler Darren Sammy took four wickets in his opening spell in that game while the Indian spinners, led by R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, extracted considerable spin from the wicket. That India could score 72 runs off their last five overs, proves that the batsmen can also do well provided they get themselves in.
The Teams
The last time India played a One-Day International at this venue, they lost to Sri Lanka by 69 runs, thereby crashing out of the 2007 ICC World Cup. One game before that, they notched up the highest ever score in a One-Day International at Port of Spain [413 for five against Bermuda].
Now, India enter this match as heavy favourites. With the Queen’s Park Oval wicket almost certain to take turn, India, with Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin, are better placed to exploit the conditions than Devendra Bishoo in the West Indies squad.
Darren Sammy has asked for a wicket that can assist the West Indies pacers [Sammy, Andre Russell and Ravi Rampaul] to trouble the relatively inexperienced Indian batting line-up with the short stuff. It is a ploy that worked well for the West Indies in last year’s ICC T20 World Cup. The Windies’ pacers unsettled the Indian batsmen with some short pitched bowling to help their side triumph by 14 runs.
However, whether or not Sammy’s wish is granted, the West Indies batting has been their Achilles’ heel for the last 15 years and one cannot be sure how their own batsmen might cope with a bouncy track even against an average Indian pace attack.
Nevertheless, the return of Ramnaresh Sarwan boosts the West Indies middle-order and if he, Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo can bat well, this match could get interesting. Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard, no strangers to Indian fans thanks to their IPL exploits, are also available for selection in the playing eleven.
Venue Stats:
West Indies – played 49, won -27, lost – 18, Tied – 0, NR – 4 – win percentage – 55.10
India – played 12, won -3, lost – 9, Tied – 0, NR – 0 – win percentage – 25.00
Highest Total: India 413/5 in 50.0 overs v Bermuda - March 19, 2007
Lowest Total: Canada 75 all out in 28.5 overs v Zimbabwe – May 16, 2006
Best Individual score:Brian Charles Lara (West Indies) – 146* (134 balls) v New Zealand- March 30, 1996
Best bowling figures in an innings:Scott Styris (New Zealand) 7.0-0-25-6 v West Indies – June 12, 2002
The Squads:
India: Suresh Raina (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Subramaniam Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and Vinay Kumar
West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Lendl Simmons, Ramnaresh Sarwan , Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Carlton Baugh (wk), Kirk Edwards, Anthony Martin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels and Devendra Bishoo.
