India vs West Indies: Preview I

Indian fans would be anxious to see whether Dhoni and his boys have recovered some of their lost morale, when the four match one-day series against the West Indies gets underway at the Sabina Park later tonight. Tired after a long and hectic spell of cricket, and under-confident and confused after the various criticisms that they faced in the recently concluded T20 world cup, one hopes that the Indian players have refreshed themselves with some sun, sand and a little bit of fun and taken it a bit slow on the net sessions and drills.

The West Indies, on their part, had a tough summer in England, whitewashed comprehensively, till the T20 world cup began. Their fortunes turned at that point, however, and they reached the semi-finals. They will be hoping to continue that momentum into this series.

Fresh Players In The Indian Squad

Injuries, both physical and mental, continue to plague the Indian team, and four of their super-stars have registered as casualties even before stepping on West Indian soil. Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina are all missing from the touring party. Additionally, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel have been dropped. But this is no call for Indian fans to push the panic buttons. The uncluttered minds and fresh legs of some new players might just be the tonic that the Indian team needs at the moment. S. Badrinath, after a string of inclusions and rather unfair omissions over the last couple of years, finds his way back into the team along with opener Murali Vijay, Dinesh Kartik and Ashish Nehra.

Nehra’s is undoubtedly the most interesting selection out of these and his performances will be keenly anticipated. He hasn’t played a single match for India for the last four years, and during this period he went off the radar so completely that his name had almost been forgotten. Plagued by continuous injuries, at one point he was even struggling for selection into the Delhi team. Yet, he persisted and kept working on his game and fitness. He then burst back on to the big stage with a superb performance during the latest season of the IPL, and this selection is his reward. If he can find swing in the Caribbean and a consistent line and length, he should be successful.

West Indies: An Injury And A Controversy

The West Indians are missing just one player because of injury, but he is arguably their most important player: Fidel Edwards. He has been in roaring form over the last few months, and his fiery pace, blistering yorkers and deadly shoulder height bouncers coupled with Jerome Taylor’s pace, give the West Indian attack both venom and sting. Without him, however, it looks like a pedestrian bowling attack comprising largely of run-of-the-mill medium pacers. One wonders where all the West Indian fast bowling talent of yesteryears has gone…Anyway, Edwards might still be back for the last two games.

Bewilderment and curiosity about the lack of talent aside, the West Indian selectors have won no admirers following a couple of curious decisions for this series. They have dropped Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy, both amongst the better performers of the T20 world cup, and replaced them with Runako Morton (who has been tried on several occasions and failed every time) and Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo’s half-brother and a supposedly prodigious batting talent.

Darren Sammy replaced Fidel Edwards when the latter got injured during the world cup, and did a decent job, bowling a tight line and length and curtailing scoring opportunities. Following this performance, one wonders why he can’t make an attack for which both Ravi Rampaul and Lionel Baker are good enough. The case of Lendl Simmons provides for even greater surprise. He hit a scintillating fifty against South Africa in the world cup and even picked up a four wicket haul against Sri Lanka. His positive stroke-play and good form lifted a lot of pressure off the shoulders of Gayle and Bravo in England, yet Morton is suddenly considered a better option. Strange…

Recent form

The last ODI series that India played was in New Zealand a few months ago. They won it impressively, 3-1. However, that was a fresh Indian team with a lot of self-belief. The same team is going to the Caribbean with a lot of question marks and a desperate loss of form. Dhoni has fallen from grace for the first time and his batting line-up, sprinkled generously with power hitters, has lost its sheen after the debacle in England. It will certainly not be intimidating the hosts, like it did the Kiwis back in March.

However, the good news for India is that their opponents have not exactly impressed anyone in the last few months either. The West Indies were beaten 3-2 in their last one day series on home soil against England, and that was followed by a 2-0 whitewash during the return leg against the same opposition. In fact, they are coming straight from four consecutive defeats to England over the two series. However, that form should matter almost as little as India’s form in New Zealand. If anything, the West Indies will be going into this series with confidence after their semi-final performance during the T20 world cup.

While immediate form does matter, one shouldn’t forget that India’s troubles and West Indies’ success both came in T20 cricket, and the series beginning today is not Twenty20. These are fifty over contests where players will have much longer to settle down and batting and bowling strategies will not be so short term. It will also be more difficult for both the teams to hide weak links. On the whole, the skills required will be much different from twenty20. Added to this, there is nothing similar between the cold gray skies and swinging conditions of England, and the hot, tropical summer and dry pitches of the West Indies. So both teams will be well-advised to leavethe past behind and go in with a fresh mindset.