West Indies will most likely have to do without the services of opener Lendl Simmons again, when they battle Inda in the second match of the Micromax limited overs series at the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in Delhi. While the team practiced under in the blazing hot sun at the ground yesterday, Simmons was indoors with physiotherapist CJ Clarke working on his back problem. Skipper Dwayne Bravo speaking at the pre-match press conference said they were hoping for Simmons to be fit but he was struggling: “We would love to have Simmons take his place on the team but at this moment he is struggling. “We are hoping that by match time tomorrow he is fit to play. If not we would have to use another person to open. Whoever gets the chance to open needs to give us a good start. Anyone of us can be used in the role, or I might even go back as I did in the first match and open.”
The West Indies hammered the Indians by 124 runs in the opening match at Kochi and Bravo is saying that it is the best all round effort he has seen. “We had a great game, that first match and it was the best all-round effort for quite some some.” West Indies batting first made 321 for six and India was bowled out for 197. Bravo is looking for another great performance: “We are looking to come here and continue the good work. India is a very difficult team to play in India and we will be looking to give them a great fight again. In the past we have gotten good starts and thrown it away, so we are determined to continue that great start. It feels good going into this game against the world champions.
The allrounder continued: “We are just focussing on this series. We cannot look too far ahead, we are in India so we are focussed here, then we go to South Africa and then to Australia for the World Cup. We need to focus on doing the right things at the right time for different conditions and we will be fine.” India in the meantime seems to have made the mistake of looking too far ahead and all the talk amongst the Indian officials is focussed on the World Cup. The win by the West Indies in the first game would have led to a shift in their focus and they are expected to come hard at the Caribbean men.
Match Zone
TIME: 2.30 pm Indian time, 5.30 pm TT time.
TEAMS
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (Captain), Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Leon Johnson, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith and Jerome Taylor.
India: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, M Vijay an Kuldeep Yadav.
PITCH: This pitch is slow and low and assists the spinners, although in recent time it has improved and gotten a little quicker. In 2009 an ODI between India and Sri Lanka ended when match officials decided the pitch was of “extremely variable bounce and too dangerous for further play”. As a result a 12-month ban was placed on the ground after the ICC found the pitch to be “unfit” and “dangerous”.
WEATHER: There is no rain about and it is very hot with temperatures hovering around 37 degrees celsius. There will be some cloud cover but no rain.
HEAD TO HEAD AT KOCHI: Both teams have met at Delhi once before and the West Indies won by 20 runs after a man of the match performance by captain Sir Viv Richards. He scored 44 quick runs and grabbed 6/41 with his off-spinners.
FAN VIEW: Talk on the street here is that India under-estimated the West Indies in the first match and the loss by the home side has created keen interest. People are looking forward to the game and the 40,000 seater Kotla is expected to be sold out. Yesterday some fans scaled poles just to see the West Indies team train.
