India vs West Indies 2013 - Preview: India looking to wrap up series in Vizag
India vs West Indies
After a pretty one sided affair in Kochi, the ODI series between India and West Indies moves to the beautiful city of Vishakapatnam. India are already 1-0 up in the three match series and would like to wrap up the series before they go to Kanpur. West Indies, however would look to spice up the series and put up at least a fight against a very strong Indian outfit. On current form though, it looks highly unlikely.
The Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vizag has hosted 4 ODI till now, with India winning each of them. West Indies has played one game at this venue only to come out second best in the contest. The pitch normally is a slow turner but Andhra Pradesh has been hit by a cyclone and Vishakapatnam has received incessant rainfall in the last couple of days. If the weather holds up, the seamers will definitely come into action with the dampness prevalent in the atmosphere.
However, it still doesn’t bear good news for the West Indies. If the Indian spinners had the best of them in Kochi, the Indian pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Md. Shami would be licking their lips to bowl in damp conditions against a brittle West Indian batting line up.
India
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma : Men in prime touch for India
India is in prime form right now. 2013 has been a fantastic year for India and their performances has been top notch. The MS Dhoni led side has won 21 out of 29 matches played this year with a win-percentage of 72.41, which is by far their best in a calendar year. In the history of Indian cricket, only once has an Indian side won more matches in a calendar year, in 1998 when they won 24 matches out of the 40 they played.
With a crushing victory in the Test series and at Kochi, they have already stamped their authority in the series and right now the only thing that can pin them down is complacency. West Indies in no match to their might and MS Dhoni and company would look to pocket yet another series victory and finish the job in Vizag itself.
The game at Vizag would be MS Dhoni’s 150th ODI as captain, a record that’s second to Mohammad Azharuddin’s. He also will be the seventh captain to do so in the world.
The Indian eleven shouldn’t see any changes in this game. The Indian top order has been in red-hot form and their purple patch has only got darker. Rohit Sharma is in the form of his life and looks determined to settle the scores with his critics once and for all.
Virat Kohli, too, has activated his nitro mode and has been scoring for fun. In the last 10 ODI innings, he has scored below 60 only once and had he not thrown away his hand at Kochi, would have got to another hundred. He has been scoring runs irrespective of the grounds and oppositions and in Vizag he already has two hundreds in the two games he has played.
However, India still has some problems with the form of their three left-handers in the line up. Shikhar Dhawan has been throwing away the good starts while Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina has not been in the best of touches. Shikhar Dhawan would like to score a couple of big ones before the end of the series while Raina and Yuvraj would be eager to score to stake their claims for the series in South Africa.
The Indian bowling looked in better shape in Kochi, thanks to a conducive track and a weaker opposition. The pace bowling looks in safer hands in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the addition of Shami has given them the extra edge. R. Ashwin has been steady while Ravindra Jadeja has been the leading wicket-taker for the side.
Indian squad: MS Dhoni (Capt, wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat
West Indies
Sunil Narine: Needs to put in a big performance
West Indies is in all kinds of trouble and now with Chris Gayle out of the series, it gets even worse. Although the shorter format is more adept to their style, the West Indies batsmen has been a big let down in the series. They have struggled against the swing of Shami and Kumar and has been at sea while facing up to the spinners. Johnson Charles has flicked at the top of the order but Darren Bravo has been the lone ranger for the Windies and they would need a big performance from Marlon Samuels to get to a respectable score.
However, their biggest blow will be the absence of Chris Gayle. Although, he hasn’t been in good touch, yet his towering presence is always a threat to the opposition. Gayle suffered a hamstring tear and will not be a part of the series anymore. Lendl Simmons is tipped to take Gayle’s place up the order with Johnson Charles and Dwayne Bravo would expect his batsmen to step up and contribute so as to make a match out of the encounter.
The West Indian bowling, too, has looked out of sorts with the exception of Ravi Rampaul. Jason Holder created some nervy moments for the Indian openers but later tapered off in front of the assault of Kohli and Sharma. However, the biggest disappointment has been Sunil Narine. The mohawk-ed West Indian spinner was dubbed as the key man in the Windies attack but the duo of Sharma and Kohli handled him with utter disdain. Sammy, yet again, looked flat and even Dwayne Bravo wasn’t able to create an impact.
The West Indies XI will definitely see one change as Gayle goes out but it would be interesting to see if Bravo opts for Kieron Powell given his limited options. It would worth a try for West Indies to throw in Tino Best into the mix to spice things up a bit.
The West Indies need to win but they first need to put up a fight and for that the senior men in Bravo, Sammy, Samuels, Narine and Rampaul would need to rope in all their IPL experience to give the Indians a run for their money.
West Indian squad: Dwayne Bravo (Capt), Kieron Powell, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Jason Holder, Veerasammy Permaul, Ravi Rampaul, Tino Best