The Hindu : Sport : India's batting looks formidable

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Sport

Sport

India's batting looks formidable

While it is great to have big names on paper, it is the results that would count, writes Michael Holding

As the one-day international series against Zimbabwe ends in the Caribbean, the West Indies team will be turning its attention to the forthcoming five ODIs against India, its next opponent.

This will be a completely different ball game for the West Indies. While Zimbabwe lingers at the bottom of both Test and ODI rankings, India has been proving its worth in both forms of the game, and not just on home soil.

Sure, the West Indies dominated the series but like the last game, at times Zimbabwe was not outclassed to the degree at which you would have expected considering its problems on availability of its best players. And that is good reason for the West Indies fans to be a bit sceptical about the upcoming contest.

India's batting line-up, even without the injured Sachin Tendulkar, is a formidable one.

Fans in the Caribbean know a lot about captain Rahul Dravid and would have seen a bit of Virender Sehwag and at least heard of the recent exploits of Yuvraj Singh.

But add to those, the hard-hitting Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammed Kaif and the two young guns Suresh Raina and Ramesh Powar and you get the idea that the Windies bowling attack could be thoroughly tested.

Yuvraj Singh has developed tremendously over the last 12 months or so and Raina and Powar look to be two young batsmen going places but Dhoni is a destroyer. He is a powerful man who could make these comparatively small West Indies cricket grounds look like indoor arenas and perhaps it would not be a bad idea if they were because if he is not dismissed cheaply, the West Indies Cricket Board could end up with an unusually high equipment bill for lost cricket balls.

It should not be a one-way street as far as powerful hitting is concerned as acknowledged by India's captain Dravid that the West Indies batting line-up is not one to be sniffed at. "Any team that has players of the quality of Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Shivnaraine Chanderpaul is going to be a serious batting line-up,'' is what he said on his arrival in Jamaica recently and that cannot be denied.

Consistency needed

The West Indies will have to be a lot more consistent in its performances. While it is great to have big names on paper it is the results that would count.

So, with such strong batting line-ups in both teams, it will be the team that bowls and fields better that will end up in front after the five games. While the West Indies will be drawing on past experience and history to prepare mentally for the battle, the Indians will be trying to put those statistics behind them and concentrate on the present. They certainly have the quality and better recent form to get the job done. — PTI

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