What

Second encounter of the three-match ODI series between India and West Indies

When

Sunday, November 24, 2013, 13:30 IST (08:00 GMT)

Where

Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vizag

The Teams

India

With a thumping win in Kochi, the hosts maintained the stranglehold over West Indies they had created in the Tests. Going into the second match, MS Dhoni’s men will be quietly confident of repeating the success.

There’s nothing much to talk about India’s batting, with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli in tremendous form. On the slow and low track of Kochi, it were the spinners – specialist and part-timers alike – who did the job for Dhoni, hence, leaving the pace battery little work to do.

The Indian captain will hope for similar wicket in Vizag, however, the weather will dictate terms on the match conditions and the wicket. It has been raining intermittently in Vizag since two days.

West Indies

Ahead of the first ODI, skipper Dwayne Bravo claimed that his team is more comfortable playing the shorter formats and hence we can expect a significantly better show from them in this series. However, the West Indies batsmen showed no sign of improvement at all in the first ODI, losing their wickets to rather rash shots.

To add insult to injury, the visitors will go into the second game without Chris Gayle, who pulled his hamstring during a failed attempt to compete a run in Kochi. The team’s first step towards their attempt to level the series will be to bat for 50 overs. For that, their batsmen will have to show patience and character.

Key Players

India

If the conditions remain overcast in Vizag, the pace bowlers will come into the picture early on. In that case, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ability to swing the new ball could wreck havoc in the West Indies top-order. If India bat first, whether or not the Indian opening pair can see off the tricky phase of first 10 overs will be the key for the hosts.

West Indies

The only Caribbean bowler who came out with respectable figures from the first ODI was Ravi Rampaul. The sturdy medium pacer has learnt the art of bowling in India and he has been executing it rather well in the shorter formats. If he could rattle the Indian top-order and bring in the likes of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh early, West Indies might escape the huge Indian total.

Statistics

Matches at Visakhapatnam

Result summary:

Average first innings score: 293 Trivia

· 2013 has turned out to be a fantastic year for India. They have won 21 out of 29 matches played this year. In their entire history, only once have India won more matches in a calendar year. That was in 1998 when India won 24. However these wins came in 40 matches. India’s win-percentage of 72.41 this year is easily their best in a calendar year.

· Virat Kohli scored hundreds both times he played at Vizag – 118 against Australia in 2010 and 117 against West Indies in 2011.

· MS Dhoni will be leading India for the 150th time in an ODI. He will become second Indian after Mohammad Azharuddin and seventh captain to do so.

Squads

India: MS Dhoni (Capt, wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat

West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (Capt), Chris Gayle, Kieron Powell, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Jason Holder, Veerasammy Permaul, Ravi Rampaul, Tino Best