PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – West Indies will be hoping for a quick fix to their batting problems when they face India in the second One-Day International of the five-match series at Queen’s Park Oval here today. The regional side have struggled recently to put compelling totals on the board and invariably it has led to their defeat in 10 of their last 13 ODIs. Further, they are still without a win over a top-flight side in two years with heavy defeats to South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia in recent series.
Captain Darren Sammy was quick to acknowledge that his side’s batting difficulties were behind their weak showings.
“When you are out of nick, and you play on pitches that favour the opposition, it is difficult to get yourself really going,” he said.
“Once the spinners start off well, and put you under pressure, it’s always difficult for the guys coming in to really work the ball around.
“Desmond Haynes, our batting consultant, has been doing a good job, but it is about getting confidence to go out there, and to execute out in the middle. We will have to put up a better display, and keep believing in ourselves, and hopefully, the tide will turn for us.”
West Indies lost the first game of the series on Monday after again failing to post an adequate total in getting to 214.
Sammy said his batsmen needed to be more positive, especially against the Indians’ spin attack comprising Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and captain Suresh Raina.
“To be aggressive you still need the confidence. Maybe we can show a bit more intent against the spinners. When our spinners pinned down India, they showed intent towards us,” the all-rounder pointed out.
“Our guys are practising. It’s about transferring all these things in the middle. When you look at all the dot balls – we have lots of boundary hitters – when you are not getting boundaries and not rotating the strike, the batsmen get under pressure.”
Sammy said he was hoping for the immensely talented left-hander Darren Bravo to get a big score, and noted there might a reshuffle of the batting order to get things right.
“Darren, maybe, is going through a bit of patch now. We have all seen what he can do. In Sri Lanka he was our best batsman of spin. I am confident that Darren will come good,” said Sammy of Bravo who has gotten good starts but failed to carry on.
“Maybe we could adjust the batting line up, put Sarwan up at number three or something. These are all scenarios we can put forward. Hopefully whoever gets that position can go out there and do good.”
Raina, meanwhile, has no such headaches as India seek a 2-0 lead in the series.
His bowlers stifled the Windies on Monday and for the exception of a few stutters, his batsmen were dominant in reaching their target.
Despite having taken the lead in the series, Raina called on his side to lift their game.
“I still think we can do better. We have a very young side, but I think a couple of the guys need to show more intensity, and that is what I will ask them to do. We need to field really well because the bowlers have done very well for us, and we cannot let them down. It’s looking good at the moment, and I hope we do well in the next game” he stressed.
SQUADS (from):
WEST INDIES – Darren Sammy (captain), Carlton Baugh Jr, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons
INDIA – Suresh Raina (captain), Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramaniam Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary