West Indies tri-series 2013: Match 4 - India vs WI - India Preview

Ishant and co. have struggled in their search for the same pace and bounce they exploited in England. Anything short or too full is only going to make them look more clueless in these conditions. Though the spinners have found the turn, the slowness of the pitch isn’t to their liking. The decision to leave out Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last game surprised many. Despite the absence of swinging conditions, his accurate line and length pose a much greater threat than a newcomer’s variations on these pitches.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s regular scalps at the top of the order were missed against Sri Lanka as Jayawardene-Tharanga piled on 213 for the 1st wicket

I have nothing against Kohli for going with Shami Ahmed ahead of Kumar, taking into account the fact that this Indian team couldn’t have got a better opportunity to do some shuffling on this tour, especially with Dhoni now out of the picture for a while. But if that decision was born out of the reasoning of lack of swing on offer, it is a poor show of faith in Bhuvneshwar’s abilities by the team management.

Kohli’s leadership has been a topic of hot debate, but it’s too early to take a stand on it. How the Delhi dasher gets things done on the field may not have to be necessarily in the mould of his predecessor, but it’s crucial that he doesn’t look hopelessly confused out there.

As the first part of the tri-series comes to an end, the venue now shifts to Port of Spain. The change of venue, however, doesn’t signal a change in conditions, at least not drastically.

As things stand currently, India have to win both their remaining matches and hope West Indies defeat Sri Lanka to avoid any need of a bonus point to qualify for the final. In this endeavour, they’ll do good to remember these words from Dhoni, “What is very important for us is not to look too far ahead, but take it one match at a time.”

Players in focus:

Murali Vijay - With each passing series, he looks like a liability in an overseas tour. Call it his promotion or demotion in the order, the move to send Vijay at no. 3 in the last match was clearly a horrendous one.

It is understandable that Kohli didn’t want to disturb the successful partnership at the top and an out-of-form and on-the-sidelines Vijay couldn’t have been counted upon to immediately start slogging towards the end of the innings. But Kohli’s presence at no. 3 was crucial for India, especially in chases (and against Sri Lanka, it is the word of God).

In such a case, the ever-so-flexible Dinesh Karthik could have been demoted to no. 5 and Vijay brought in at no. 4. If a sudden sense of adventurism doesn’t descend upon the Indian team management tomorrow, making them pick Ambati Rayudu in the XI, Vijay better start giving the team management some reasons to include him in the touring sides.

An overseas dud – Murali Vijay’s credentials outside the sub-continent aren’t encouraging

Ishant Sharma - The lanky pacer backed his strengths to bowl short and got good results in England. But as always, and ever so frustratingly, he doesn’t seem to have a Plan B in place. He’s has 51 Tests and 62 ODIs under his belt and, rather unfortunately in my opinion, is the ‘leader’ of India’s pace attack.

Ishant had a stupendous Test series here in 2011, where he picked up 22 wickets at 16.86 runs apiece, ending up as the highest wicket-taker in the series. But in two years, the pitches have undergone drastic changes and Ishant is still searching for the same bite he extracted off these surfaces earlier.

Pitching it either side of absolute ‘good-length areas’ is not going to work for bowlers on these pitches, and Ishant would do good to remember that Dhoni’s ‘luck’ won’t rub off on him every day.

Playing XI (probable): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.

Venue: Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Start time: 7:00 PM IST (1:30 PM GMT)