India Look to Clinch Series Against West Indies

Visakhapatnam: A dominant India would look to seal the one-day series by taking an unassailable 2-0 lead against a struggling West Indies, who are proving to be a complete mismatch to the World champions, as the two teams square off in the second match on Sunday.

After a listless performance in the Test series, losing explosive opener Chris Gayle to an injury has added to the woes and worries of the Caribbean side, who now face a do-or-die situation to save the series.

The West Indies were expected to do better in the short format but they have failed to put up a fight as their batsmen continue to struggle.

The reversal of fortunes has eluded the visitors as India cantered to a six-wicket victory with 88 deliveries to spare to take a 1-0 lead in Kochi.

The victory was soothing for the wounded Indian bowlers who were pulverised in the last ODI series against Australia as they could finally exert some pressure on the batting fraternity.

Back after given a rest to heal his shoulder injury in the Test series, Ravindra Jadeja led the spin attack by taking three wickets to bowl the Windies out for a paltry 211.

Indian trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan have been the force behind the batting as they have shown no target is safe.

The ACA-VDCA Stadium has always been lucky for India who have won all the four matches here right from the very first one on April 5, 2005 when a long-haired Dhoni came into prominence with his 123-ball 148 to devastate Pakistanis.

As for the ordinary-looking Windies, the gloom continues even as there has been a change to coloured clothing, a shift in captaincy with an addition of a few limited over 'specialists'.

Cast as 'drunk after a heavy T20 diet by World Cup winner Clive Lloyd, the Windies have a lot to do so as to make an impact. Their Batsmen are not showing the right temperament as was admitted by Test skipper Darren Sammy who too has been criticised for lack of contribution to the team as an all-rounder.

It remains to be seen whether the team think-tank will make any drastic change in their must-win match by dropping the Test skipper, while Kieran Powell may get a look-in after Gayle's unfortunate injury.

The team has been a shadow of their past that toured in 2011 as they had put up a strong fight.

Much would depend on their big-hitters as was shown by wicketkeeper batsman Johnson Charles in the last ODI at Kochi, while the Bravo half-brothers (skipper Dwayne and Darren) and Marlon Samuels too have to get into their act at the batting-friendly surface.

With mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine and pacer Ravi Rampaul joining the squad for the ODI mould, much would depend on the duo as well.

Teams from:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Jaydev Unadkat, R Vinay Kumar, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra.

West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (Captain), Johnson Charles (wk), Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Narsingh Deonarine, Darren Sammy, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Tino Best, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell and Denesh Ramdin.

Pitch and conditions
The outfield at Rakasekhara Reddy Stadium has been subjected to a lot of water over the past few days and the probability of rain on the day of the match cannot be ruled out.

Stats and trivia

• Shikhar Dhawan needs four more runs to complete 1000 in ODIs for 2013
• West Indies have crossed 250 five times in 21 matches this year, two of which were against Zimbabwe. They have been bundled out below 100 twice in the same period

Match facts
Sunday, November 24, 2013 (day/night)
Start time 1330 local (0800 GMT)