Third Digicel ODI preview:Rejuvenated India Ready For West Indies Challenge.

The four-day break could serve as a fresh impetus for the travel-weary Indian cricket team to relaunch their West Indies campaign in the last two one-day internationals slated for Friday and Sunday.

Both teams are locked 1-1 in the four match ODI series and the Beausejour Cricket Ground is all set to host the last two ODIs of the series.

The West Indies have certainly been the better team in the first two matches at Sabina Park in Kingston. They threatened to chase a target of 340 runs in the first ODI before India managed to pull it off just in time for a 20-run victory. The visitors won the second ODI with a comfortable eight wicket victory to draw level. It could have been worse for India, but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s dogged 95 saved the team from falling below-100.

In both matches, there was nothing to suggest that it is the same Indian team that won 15 of their 18 previous matches before arriving in the Caribbean. Barring Yuvraj Singh, who stroked a brilliant 100 in the first ODI, and Dhoni, the rest of the batting line-up lacked application to tackle either swinging or short pitched deliveries.

West Indies and England bowlers exposed Indian batsmen’s weakness against short bowling in the World Twenty20 where Dhoni’s outfit were out of the Super Eights after losing to these two teams.West Indies effected the same plan to good use through fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Ravi Pampaul in the second ODI.

Dinesh Karthik, who is filling the opener’s slot in absence of injured Virender Sehwag, is still to make a mark while his partner Gautam Gambhir’s purple patch is over and looks clearly out of sorts.Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are also struggling and that has put more pressure on Yuvraj and Dhoni to first resurrect the innings and then launch an attack.The bowling attack also need to get its act together as the West Indies came dangerously close to chase a 300 plus target in the first match.

For West Indies, skipper Chris Gayle’s form is heartening. In the second ODI, his blitz knock dashed hopes of any comeback of the Indian team.Their new ball bowlers Taylor and Rampaul have found that the Indian batsmen are vulnerable to short-pitched deliveries.But Dhoni has already warned his boys to watch out for these two fast bowlers and the break will see whether the Indian team has found any new strategy to tackle them.

Lara and Bravo family ties.

Trinidadian Darren Bravo doesn’t try to emulate Brian Lara, but it’s simply genetic.

The dashing 20-year-old Bravo who just made his International debut for the West Indies is actually a cousin of the legendary former West Indies and Trinidad batsman, and his mother wants people to know her son is not trying to copy Brian.

“Brian’s (Lara) mother is my father’s sister. So we are first cousins,” said Earlene Bravo.

“I was on a taxi in Jamaica on the way to cricket and the guy didn’t know who I was. Darren was just going out to bat and the guy kept saying ‘why this guy trying to be like Lara?’ and I was so annoyed,” she quipped. 

“From when he was young, he had those antics just like Brian, it’s in his genes,” she explained, also noting that Darren and Dwayne had the same father, but Dwayne’s mother is different.

“From very young this boy just love cricket. He would be batting in his sleep. On mornings he pretends he playing a match with himself. At Fatima School he would carry the ball, the stumps and bat and play all day. He did well in School, but it is cricket that my son has always been about.”

Darren’s mom was flown to Sabina Park the day her son made his International debut and she joined Darren and Dwayne’s dad, John Bravo along with Dwayne’s mother, Joycelyn who also confirmed that her step son (Darren) and Dwayne have been close from little boys.

“Everyday these boys talking and playing cricket. Dwayne just use to play cricket by himself. He even uses to score in a book. And I would say to Dwayne, ‘boy, who you scoring for?’ and he would say ‘mommy I playing a game’,” she said.

Darren and Dwayne’s mothers and their father were joined by their uncle and other family at Sabina.

Symonds denies that he is an alcoholic.

Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds says he is not an alcoholic but has blamed binge drinking for poor behavior that caused him to run afoul of cricket authorities.

“I’m not proud of the times that I’ve drunk too much and been rude to someone or broken team rules,” Symonds said in an interview with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes television program Sunday.

Cricket Australia this month withdrew its one-year contract offer to Symonds, a week after the 34-year-old veteran was sent home from England and the Twenty20 World Cup following another alcohol-related indiscretion.

Media reports said Symonds had gone to a bar, without telling team management, to celebrate Queensland’s win in the rugby league State-of-Origin series opener.

Last September, Symonds was ordered to undergo counseling after being expelled from the squad for going fishing instead of attending a team meeting ahead of a limited-overs series against Bangladesh.

He briefly returned for a series against New Zealand before injury sidelined him for several months. Days after his November recall, he was involved in a bar fight with a drunken fan, although he was later cleared of wrongdoing.

Symonds then made disparaging comments about a New Zealand opponent during a radio interview, also while under the influence of alcohol.

“I’d go out and drink too much, too fast,” Symonds told 60 Minutes.

“I’m not an alcoholic. I’ve been diagnosed as a binge drinker.”

Srilanka Providing VVIP security to Pakistan team to prevent terror attacks.

Pakistan’s cricket team is receiving security on its tour of Sri Lanka that is equivalent to a head of state, with more than 100 personnel having been assigned to protect the visitors.

Sri Lanka Cricket official Charith Senanayake said stringent measures have been put in place, particularly focusing on security along the routes from hotels to match venues.

The Pakistan team arrived Sunday to play three tests, five one-day internationals and a twenty20 match from July 4.

“Pakistan team has been provided with VVIP security from the time they arrived in the country,” Senanayake said Monday. “A strong security detail will accompany the team on and off the field.”

Sri Lanka’s team was attacked on its way to play a Test against Pakistan on March 3 in Lahore by more than a dozen heavily armed gunmen in ambush. Six police officers and a driver were killed and seven members of Sri Lanka’s contingent were wounded.

Dhoni’s batsmen blunders give WI a chance to Fight back in ODI series.

India’s poor batting display in their eight-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Kingston owed to a misjudgment on the part of their batsmen about the pitch, MS Dhoni has said. Dhoni played a captain’s innings of 95, which rescued his team from a hopeless situation at 82 for 8, but proved woefully inadequate in the face of an attacking opening stand of 101 led by West Indies captain Chris Gayle.

“We should have paid a little more respect to the bowlers,” Dhoni said after the game. “The wicket was a bit difficult, it was swinging around a bit. We didn’t judge the wicket well and just went around playing our strokes which really brought our downfall.” Dhoni was involved in a 101-run stand for the ninth wicket with RP Singh, who chipped in with a valuable 23. It was the fifth instance of a ninth-wicket pair putting on a century-partnership, and it saved India’s blushes after they were in danger of being bowled out for under three figures.

“Once you lose too many wickets then the only thing that you are doing is catching up. RP and me had a partnership otherwise it would have been quite embarrassing,” he said. India’s top and middle orders were blown away by some disciplined bowling from the West Indian seamers, led by Ravi Rampaul, who finished with a career-best 4 for 37. India were in trouble as early as the second over, when Rampaul dismissed Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma in a space of three deliveries, and West Indies retained the advantage for the remainder of the game.

India’s failure at the top, Dhoni believed, was decisive in their inability to post a challenging score, as the pitch had eased out by the time West Indies began their chase. “Later on, the wicket became better for batting,” he said. “When you are batting first, initially you expect the wicket to do a bit and it is the first half an hour and after that you can capitalise if you get up a good start.” While Yuvraj Singh was at the crease India were in a position to fight back hard, but Dhoni added that reliance on just one individual – Yuvraj made a century in the series opener – was not going to win them matches.

“Yuvraj is the man in form, he is getting the run for us but we can’t expect one individual to score in one and every game. “You can’t expect to bowl the opponent out within 180, especially on a wicket like this. We just wanted to make it difficult. As long as we can stay on the wicket and make it difficult for them to score runs, that was the motivation.”

India win despite a high thrilling run chase by the Windies.

It ended dramatically at Sabina Park, with tension contorting the faces of anxious fans, both Indian and West Indian, as the hosts pursued India’s massive total of 339 with tenacity. West Indies chased valiantly and stayed in the game throughout despite the regular fall of wickets but, in the end, their challenge lacked an innings combining aggression with longevity, two qualities that Yuvraj singh blended perfectly during his match-winning 131 off 102 balls.

India were succumbing to their bugbear, having lost early wickets to the short ball, when Yuvraj joined Dinesh Karthik to rebuild the innings from 32 for 2. His approach made up for the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina and allayed fears of weakness in the batting order. Yuvraj revived the Indian innings by adding 135 with Karthik for the third wicket, a partnership that laid the platform for only the second ODI total in excess of 300 in Jamaica.

West Indies appeared hapless against Yuvraj until Dwayne Bravo found the edge of his bat as he tried to glance towards fine leg. Bravo raised hopes of a fightback by dismissing Ravindra Jadeja first ball but useful innings from Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan steered India past 300, and a six from Harbhajan Singh off the last ball took them to 339.

Chasing 340 needed something special from Gayle and he began to deliver, muscling his way to 37 before top-edging a pull off Ashish Nehra to mid-on. Morton attempted to fill the void left by his opening partner and stepped up after his departure, steering West Indies to 70 for 1 after ten overs before he was unlucky to be given out caught down the leg side for 42. Despite the loss of both set batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan ensured West Indies kept abreast with the asking-rate, using his feet nimbly against the spinners to clear the boundary. In fact, Sarwan had just lofted Yuvraj for the most languid of straight sixes when he was run out for 45 the next ball while attempting an unnecessary second run.

It was now down to Shivnarayan Chanderpaul and he too stepped up to ensure the equation didn’t get out of hand, carting Yuvraj for consecutive sixes and reaching his half-century with two whips to the fine-leg boundary off Ishant Sharma. However, Chanderpaul also fell immediately after hitting a six: he had smacked Yusuf Pathan over the square-leg boundary and was caught repeating the shot the very next ball. Chanderpaul’s dismissal for 63 was a crippling blow and appeared to be the end of West Indies chances but they fought on determinedly. Denesh Ramdin threw his bat around, so did Jerome Taylor and David Bernard, fraying India’s nerves to the limit. They couldn’t quite complete what would have been an astonishing win, though, for they needed one of their more accomplished top-order batsmen to stay to stay a little longer.

Classy Yuvraj once again helping India to put a big total against WI.

That familiar bugbear of Indian batsmen – the short ball – began to undo the top order once again in Jamaica before a partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj Singh built a sound platform in the first one-day international against West Indies. India’s revival was nervous early on but by the halfway stage the batsmen were dominant and Yuvraj was beginning to reach his six-hitting best.

Jerome Taylor, who was part of the attack that exploited India’s ineptness against the rising delivery during the World Twenty20, resorted to the approach once again despite the Sabina Park pitch being far slower than the one at Lord’s. He hurried the batsmen with pace, beat them with seam movement, and proved extremely hard to score off by giving the batsmen nothing to drive or cut. Unfortunately for West Indies, the pressure Taylor created dissipated because there was none forthcoming from the other end with Lionel Baker, Dwayne Bravo and David Bernard unable to bowl economically.

India started briskly, moving on to 25 in the fifth over, before Taylor unsettled Gautam Gambhir with a 92mph delivery from round the wicket that hurried the left-hander and cramped him for room.Rohit Sharma fell soon after, pulling a less ferocious ball from Baker to Dwayne Bravo at deep square legThe run-rate slowed as Karthik, opening in Virender Sehwag’s absence, and Yuvraj attempted to rebuild the innings from 32 for 2 on a pitch where the ball did not come on to the bat.Yuvraj Singh once again played an impressive innings by scoring 131 runs in 102 balls including 7 massive sixes hit by him.
Dinesh Kartik also played a fine knock of 67 in his characteristic fashion with some glorious boundaries.After the fall of kartik and Yuvi’s partnership, skipper dhoni and yusuf pathan helping the indian team’s progress towards a good total in a briskly fashion ,to help them achieve 339/6 after 50 overs.So India team has done well with the bat ,now all hope lies on indian bowlers to defend the total by taking some quick wickets of the WI side.And it is overall a good contest to see between the spin attack of india to sarwan and chanderpaul in the middle overs

West Indies vs India first ODI match Preview.

West Indies and India prepare for the first of four one-day internationals, in Jamaica, after extremely contrasting World Twenty20 campaigns in England. India entered the tournament as one of the favourites but underachieved tremendously, losing all their matches in the Super Eights stage. As a result of their second-round elimination, India reached the Caribbean even before their hosts, who exceeded expectations by qualifying for the semi-finals, where they lost to Sri Lanka.

For India, a team shaken by defeat, injury and fatigue, this series is the last before a long break until the Champions Trophy in September. They will do well to focus on the task at hand, rather than think about the lengthy rest their tired bodies deserve. India are weakened for they are without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Zaheer Khan, four key players either injured or resting because of their hectic schedule in recent months. Their unavailability, though, opens up rare opportunities for players on the fringes of the national squad such as Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath and M Vijay because the Indian one-day side has been a settled unit for a while now. It also gives others, such as Ashish Nehra, a new lease of life for few would have expected him to return after four years on the sidelines.

West Indies’ performance in the World Twenty20 was a dramatic improvement from their efforts during a torrid summer in which they lost both the Wisden Trophy and ODI series to England. Their run to the final four, though, was largely Gayle-powered and they will want more players to contribute during the ODIs against India before the home series against Bangladesh in July. They too have tinkered with their squad for the first two games, surprisingly leaving out Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy, recalling Runako Morton and Narsingh Deonarine, and included the uncapped Darren Bravo.

India (likely): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 S Badrinath, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ashish Nehra.

West Indies (likely): 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Runako Morton, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Darren Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Suleiman Benn, 11 Lionel Baker.

Gayle expresses his fear against India.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle feels India will come out all guns blazing in the Caribbean in order to make up for its bad show at the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 2009.

India lost its title of World Twenty20 champions to Pakistan. The winners of the inaugural event lost all its three games in the Super Eight stage of the tournament and ended its hopes of second successive victory at the World Twenty20 on a disastrous note.

The Indian team left to West Indies directly from England, the venue of the World Twenty20. It will now be hoping to win back some lost pride in the upcoming four-match one day international series against Gayle’s men, the first of which commences tomorrow.

Gayle is wary of India, who has been performing well as a unit since the last one year.

“We have a big game on Friday against India. We’re all looking forward to it,” Gayle said.

“India is always a good one-day team and they will be looking to beat us based on their Twenty20 disappointment.”

The only problem for India is that injuries have plagued most of its side. Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina are out due to injury while its star batsman Sachin Tendulkar has opted to sit out of this series.

“Sehwag and Tendulkar are two world class players but they still have quality players to step up and they have a lot of experience in One-day cricket.”
But Gayle added that even without the services of its big-guns, India is still a force to be reckoned with in the ODI arena.

“They still have quality players in Yuvraj (Singh), Harbhajan Singh, (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, (Ishant) Sharma and a lot of guys to give us a lot of trouble,” Gayle said.

“So it’s not a situation where we will say it’s a walkover. It’s never a walkover against India.”

Gayle, who led his side to the semi-finals of the World Twenty20, ended on a positive note saying his side is prepared to face the challenge of the Indian team.

“It’s a privilege and hopefully I can continue from strength to strength and give everyone something to cheer about. Hopefully we can wrap up this series and am looking forward for a lot of things,” said the West Indian skipper.

POLL OF THE DAY.