India look to continue winning streak in second ODI against West Indies

It was a case of Mr Hyde turning up for both India and the West Indies in the first One-Day International in Cuttack on Tuesday - both teams' batsmen, barring half-centurions Rohit Sharma and Darren Bravo, pretty much brought out the worst in themselves.

And while that nail-biter went India's way, both teams will sincerely hope for a marked improvement in the second ODI of the five-match series here on Friday.

A carnival atmosphere can be expected at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium when 28,000 vociferous spectators get to witness just the fourth match in this city, and India obviously head into the game as favourites.

But the West Indies, over the course of the three Tests and one ODI on this tour so far, have refused to roll over the way they used to in the recent past. The track is also expected to be what their skipper Darren Sammy called a 'great one- day pitch', which means it should be full of runs for batsmen on either side.

The dew factor, which made India skipper Virender Sehwag bowl first in Cuttack, will be present here as well but should not be a major threat, once again tilting the balance back in favour of the batsmen. India are likely to go into the game unchanged, which will put the onus on express duo Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron to find the balance between all-out attack and some restrictive overs.

R Vinay Kumar, who is the 'senior- most' fast bowler in the side with just 12 ODIs under his belt, might have to dig in to his vast experience at the first class level to succeed, but the Karnataka seamer is a good exponent of mixing up his swinging deliveries with cutters and slower ones and can play the 'choking' role from one end at least.

With Praveen Kumar having been ruled out of the upcoming four-Test series in Australia, the selectors have given themselves until the next match in Ahmedabad to name a replacement and, with Irfan Pathan setting the Ranji Trophy alight with three five- wicket hauls in four games, the time for Vinay to present his case is right now.

On Thursday at the nets, though, none of the Indian bowlers, let alone the youngsters bowling in the nets, seemed to be capable of containing Sehwag, who had managed just 20 off 29 balls in Cuttack. He drove, punched and cut the ball with gusto in the half an-hour or so he spent in the nets alongside fellow Delhiite Gautam Gambhir.

Parthiv Patel, who has looked a bit out of sorts of late at the top of the order, could be seen working hard. But he was struggling even against the net bowlers and, given that he has to play owing to the lack of a second wicket-keeper in the squad, he may be dropped down to allow Gambhir and Sehwag reunite their opening partnership. The middle-order is once again likely to feature Virat Kohli, Rohit, Suresh Raina and all- rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

For West Indies, the biggest question will be how to buck the trend of throwing away starts with rash shots. No one except Bravo stood up to be counted in the previous game, and victory without putting up a mountain of runs on the board against India is virtually impossible.

Their bowling department did a great job with pacers Kemar Roach and Andre Russell having reduced the hosts to 59 for five, but their spin department could see a new face in Sunil Narine, a mysterious off-spinner from Trinidad & Tobago, replace leggie Anthony Martin.



Keywords: India , West Indies, One-Day International, batsmen, Rohit Sharma , Darren Bravo, second ODI, Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ,ACA-VDCA Stadium ,skipper Darren Sammy , India skipper Virender Sehwag , Umesh Yadav , Varun Aaron,R Vinay Kumar,senior- most' fast bowler ,Praveen Kumar, Sehwag,Parthiv Patel,wicket-keeper,Virat Kohli, Rohit, Suresh Raina , all- rounder Ravindra Jadeja, pacers Kemar Roach ,Andre Russell,Sunil Narine, off-spinner, Trinidad , Tobago, leggie Anthony Martin.