da bet sport： With two convincing victories under their belt, a confident India lookto assert their superiority in the triangular one-day series for theCoca Cola Cup when they take on West Indies in Bulawayo tomorrow
29-Jun-2001With two convincing victories under their belt, a confident India lookto assert their superiority in the triangular one-day series for theCoca Cola Cup when they take on West Indies in Bulawayo tomorrow.The two teams are playing each other after a gap of two years and witha lot of newcomers in both sides, are unaware of their strengths andweaknesses.India, who have already assured themselves a berth in the final, willlike to treat the two matches with West Indies as a precursor to thetitle clash which in all probability would be played between the sameteams.For the West Indies, who defeated Zimbabwe in the only match theyplayed so far, it is a crucial game because theoretically there isstill a possibility of their being relegated.The record is heavily tilted in favour of West Indies who have won 40of the 63 matches played between the two countries with India winning21.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, after the last match against Zimbabwe,had said he would like to experiment with the team now that they werethrough to the final. Some of the players have not got a chance toplay and might get their opportunity tomorrow.Pacemen Debasish Mohanty and Harvinder Singh and all-rounder ReetinderSingh Sodhi have not played any match in this series so far and therewere indications that all three may be accommodated tomorrow.That will mean a well-earned rest for Ashish Nehra and possibly AjitAgarkar and VVS Laxman who would get more time to let his injured leftindex finger heal.Sodhi has had a presence on the field in both the games againstZimbabwe coming on as a substitute fielder but for Mohanty andHarvinder this will be their first outing.Nehra has been the outstanding bowler for India on this tour and hasdone exceptionally well both in the Tests and the one-dayers. He hasbowled tirelessly and the team would like to preserve his energies forthe final.The batsmen have come up with a satisfactory performance in the seriesso far and with Ganguly finally getting runs in the last match, theline-up looks quite formidable. Though Ganguly was patchy in his 85-run innings, the team must be hoping that the captain has finally comeout of his prolonged lean form.The team had some other reasons too to draw satisfaction. DineshMongia played with a lot of confidence in the last match and vicecaptain Rahul Dravid was in ominous touch. Though Hemang Badani andVirendra Sehwag were non-performers with the bat, the two have provedtheir credentials in limited overs cricket and can be relied upon tocome up with useful knocks.For these youngsters, this would be their first experience of the WestIndies pace attack which is still quite formidable even in these leandays of West Indian cricket. It will be a test of their technique andtemperament when they face the likes of Mervyn Dillon, Reon King andCameroon Cuffy.Conversely, it would be interesting to see how the West Indian bowlersfare against the experience and class of Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly andDravid, three of the top batsmen in the world in both forms ofcricket.Apart from Cuffy, Dillon and King, three men who are capable ofdemolishing any opposition with their pace, West Indies have spinvariety too in the form of Mahendra Nagamootoo – a leg-spinner – andcaptain Carl Hooper who can be very effective with his slow offspinners.Though the inspirational Brian Lara is absent, West Indies have somevery competent youngsters and they showed their prowess in the gameagainst Zimbabwe the other day.Hooper and left-hander Shivnaraine Chanderpaul are the mostexperienced of the lot and they form the batting mainstay of theirteam. Openers Chris Gayle and Darren Ganga and Wavell Hinds are veryexciting prospects with the ability of playing big knocks.The wicket looks to be perfect for batting and tomorrow’s game isexpected to be marked by high scoring.The teams (from):India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Mongia,Rahul Dravid, Hemang Badani, Virendra Sehwag, Samir Dighe, ReetinderSingh Sodhi, Harvinder Singh, Harbhajan Singh Ajit Agarkar, ZaheerKhan and Debasish Mohanty.West Indies: Carl Hooper (captain), Darren Ganga, Chris Gayle,Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Reon King,Cameroon Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Marion Samuels,Ramnaresh Sarawan, Kerry Jeremy.