Preview: India vs West Indies - Champions Trophy 2013

By Admin
India-vs-West-Indies-CT2013

What
Match six of the ICC Champions Trophy, 2013, between India and West Indies.

Where
The Oval, London

When
Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Teams

India
India’s batting was considered their obvious strength and it was proved right in their first match of the tournament. Led by centurion Shikhar Dhawan, the Indian batsmen flayed a Steyn-less but nonetheless mighty South African bowling attack for 331 runs and gave the bowlers the luxury of ending on the winning side despite conceding 305 runs. MS Dhoni would bank on his batsmen to take them forward into the tournament. The ploy of opening the batting with Rohit Sharma worked in the last game and it is likely that he will be given a chance to follow up his fifty with a bigger score. That spells tough luck for Murali Vijay once again. Barring injuries, expect India to field an unchanged side against the West Indies.

West Indies
The swaggerers from Caribbean have come into the Champions Trophy after having ruled the IPL roost. Their two-wicket huffing and puffing win over Pakistan while chasing 170 does not represent the real form of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. Expect them to stand up against the now familiar Indian bowlers. The West Indies bowling group, however, did well to reduce Pakistan to 170 and on Tuesday will be up against a more formidable Indian batting side. The bowlers would want Gayle to go berserk and reduce their workload.

Key Players

India
His attractive and authoritative 114 against South Africa has put Shikhar Dhawan up there on the ‘To watch out’ list. If the early signs in his budding international career are anything to go by, in Dhawan, India have found an able replacement of the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag. This tournament will go a great deal in deciding his near international future in the shorter formats.

West Indies
Kemar Roach utilized the English pace-friendly conditions aptly against Pakistan. With his height and skills, expect him to have the Indian batsmen hopping and ducking. Accurate pace bowling is perhaps the best way to contain the long Indian batting line-up and Roach seems West Indies’ best bet.

Pitch and conditions

Conditions have been quite unpredictable. On the same Cardiff pitch that India scored 331, New Zealand and Sri Lanka lost 19 wickets for 277 runs. West Indies might have played a low-scoring thriller against Pakistan at The Oval, but you can't surely say this game, too, will be difficult for the batsmen. A cool day with a 10% chance of rain is expected.

Form guide (Most recent first)
India WLWWW
West Indies WWWWL

Stats and Trivia
  • In 23 matches against West Indies, Suresh Raina has scored just one fifty and averages 19.72 with a strike rate of 77.
  • Chris Gayle, with 734 at 56.46, has scored the most runs in Champions Trophy.
  • Virat Kohli will be playing his 100th ODI.
  • R Ashwin will be playing his 50th ODI.
Squads

India: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar

West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith
source: bcci.tv, cricinfo.com

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