Hosts West Indies will take on ICC Champions Trophy winners India in the second match of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-series 2013. The match will be played at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica on Sunday.
Overview:
India are high on confidence after winning the ICC Champions Trophy. They remained undefeated in the tournament and beat West Indies by eight wickets in the group stage, consolidating their No.1 ranking in ODI. With so many in-form players in the side, they will be keen to keep the winning momentum going and win the Tri-series title too.
West Indies come into the contest after a not so impressive performance in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy but they bounced back by convincingly beating Sri Lanka by six wickets and won a bonus point (chasing down 208 in 37.5 overs) in the first match of the Tri-series. They will meet India, who beat them in their last encounter but Sunday's match will be a different ball game as they are playing on their home turf. They will be looking forward to take revenge for the humiliating defeat in their last meeting in England.
Previous Meetings:
West Indies have 57-47 win-loss record against India with one tie and two no-results out of the 107 ODIs played between the countries till date. However, India won 10 of their last 13 meetings, including the recent meeting at the ICC Champions Trophy.
Team News:
India: Shikhar Dhawan is in great form, winning man of the series title in the recently concluded Champions Trophy by scoring 363 runs, which was the highest score by a player in the tournament. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are also among the top five run getters in the tournament. With batsmen like MS Dhoni Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja in the line-up, they are no doubt a strong batting side. Skipper Dhoni is expected to field the same XI that played in the Champions Trophy.
On the bowling front, Ravindra Jadeja was the highest wicket taker in the Champions Trophy with 12 wickets. Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin are also in good form. However, experienced bowler Irfan Pathan, who is nursing an injury, has been replaced by Shami Ahmed.
West Indies: Except for the axing of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jason Holder for the Jamaican leg, they have retained the squad that played in the Champions Trophy for the Tri-series too. Chris Gayle scored a century in the first match of the Tri-series against Sri Lanka, which West Indies won. He will be expected to deliver a similar performance against India on Sunday. They also have batsmen like Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Johnson Charles, Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo in the line-up.
Sunil Narine took four wickets in the first Tri-series match, while Ravi Rampaul took three and Dwayne Bravo two. They bowled out Sri Lanka for just 208 runs, and they will be expected to deliver a similar spell.
Prediction:
West Indies seem to have got back their form and have home ground advantage, but India are the favourites to win on Sunday considering their current form.
Squads:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shami Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, R Vinay Kumar.
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (c), Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Devon Smith, Darren Sammy, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sunil Narine, Tino Best, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach
Where to Watch Live:
The match will start at 08:00 PM IST on Sunday (30 June) and it will be broadcast live in India on Ten Sports, Ten Cricket and Ten HD.
