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The West Indies gameplan will be to get both of them early
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India head into Wednesday's game against West Indies seeking their first
one-day win since May 18. It's been a depressing turnaround for a side
that played such superb one-day cricket for most of last season, and it
will need two very good performances, or some assistance from the weather
gods, if they're to avoid an early flight home.
West Indies, guaranteed a place in the final after clinching their second
win of the tournament against Australia on Monday night, may tinker with
the combination, with Runako Morton certain to come into the middle order.
Corey Collymore, "one of the first names on the team-sheet", according to
Brian Lara, may also play, provided he recovers from a right thigh
problem.
Morton is likely to replace Dwayne Bravo, who has a slight swelling on his
wrist after diving forward in an attempt to catch Matthew Hayden, and
Collymore, if he plays, should take Jerome Taylor's place. Chris Gayle and
Marlon Samuels will provide the slow-bowling option, while Wavell Hinds'
medium pace may also come into play.
"We still want to win the game, and we've got to play the type of cricket
we've been playing before," said Gayle, whose blistering 79 played a
big part in the defeat of Australia. And though he had clattered the
Indian bowling to all parts when the teams met last week, Gayle made it
clear that there was no question of taking things lightly. Asked if both
sets of pace bowlers were struggling, he said: "India have a good attack
with [Munaf] Patel and [Ajit] Agarkar opening the bowling now. We're not
going to take them for granted. Our guys started well against Australia
and we just have to maintain the discipline right through the game."
Greg Chappell, India's coach, hinted at changes, and Sreesanth could get
the nod ahead of Rudra Pratap Singh as the team searches for more
penetration in the pace department. The batting line-up is unlikely to be
disturbed, with the slump in wet conditions against Australia being
considered more an aberration than anything else. "We haven't picked the
team for tomorrow's game yet," said Chappell. "I wouldn't say big changes,
no, but there will be some."
Though he qualified it by saying it wasn't cast in stone, Chappell also
suggested that India would continue with Irfan Pathan in the No.3
position, leaving the middle order slots to Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh,
Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, each of whom will fancy clearing
the ropes at the rather small Kinrara Oval.
Given Lara's fluency against the turning ball, India are unlikely to risk
Ramesh Powar, leaving the spin burden with Harbhajan Singh, Sehwag and
Yuvraj Singh, if needed. The onus though will be on the batsmen to
replicate their form of the opening game, when Sachin Tendulkar led the
way with a glorious unbeaten 141. Talking about the experience of bowling
to one of the game's greats, Bravo said: "He played very well that day,
and he picked up my slower ball. I didn't get anything right that day, but
I wasn't really putting myself under any pressure because he's one of the
best in the world.
"The team's game-plan is to get him early. He's the backbone of the team -
him and Rahul - and I think if we get both of them early, they are in for
some trouble. I think the Indians will be under a lot of pressure. I must
say that they are a very good one-day team. If they don't win, I think
they won't qualify and that's bad news for India."
With no win in their last six matches, India desperately need to turn a
corner. And having been pushed into one by a combination of their own
frailties and the weather, only a tigerish display will get their season
up and running. It's time for the big boys to stand up, snarl a little and
fight their way out of trouble.
India: 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3 Irfan Pathan, 4
Virender Sehwag, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni
(wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 S Sreesanth, 11 Munaf Patel.
West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ramnaresh
Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Runako Morton, 7 Wavell
Hinds, 8 Dwayne Smith, 9 Carlton Baugh (wk), 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 Corey
Collymore.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo