The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Even chance for Windies: Gayle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 18, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Even chance for Windies: Gayle

Montego Bay: The West Indies batsman Chris Gayle believes that despite being placed much lower than India in the ICC rankings, the host would start the ODI series against Rahul Dravid's men with an even chance of winning.

``Obviously they are ranked above us in the one-day points table but as we are at home and have hit a bit of form I think it's pretty even and should be close,'' Gayle wrote in his column for a website.

``Overall, I think the sides go into the series with an even chance of winning. We will soon find out,'' the batsman added.

Different challenge

After the comfortable win over Zimbabwe in the recently concluded home series, Gayle said the host was on a high but admitted that India presented a completely different challenge and would be a tougher opposition compared to the minnows.

``India are a totally different proposition, they are a top team and have recently come off a good (one-day) victory against England so they will be on a high as we are,'' Gayle said.

``We know it will be a difficult series and we won't have things as easy as against Zimbabwe. But I'm up for the challenge and I know the rest of the boys are also looking forward to it,'' the optimistic left-hander added.

Gayle said Sachin Tendulkar's absence in the ODI series would be felt not just by the visitors, but by his team as well. — UNI

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