The sound of willow on leather was a recurrent pattern at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday morning. Both India and the West Indies trained at the same time, making full use of the practice pitches on either side of the main wicket but besides the attention on men honing their skills their craft, the focus was also on two individuals, who skipped the nets.
M.S. Dhoni and Shivnarine Chanderpaul did not train for varied reasons. The Indian skipper, indisposed with a cold and fever, is expected to play in the third and final Test commencing here on Tuesday while his team nurses a 2-0 lead and is hoping for a clean-sweep.
The West Indies will have to sweat till the morning of the match as its batting mainstay, is suffering from a calf injury. “We are monitoring the situation. The experienced player that he is I guess he will know if he could really make it for us tomorrow (Tuesday) but we have to wait until then,” West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said in the pre-match media briefing.
A few surprises
In bowling out India for 209 in the first innings at Delhi and by scoring 463 in the second innings at Kolkata, the West Indies has sprung a few surprises. However against Dhoni's men, who have found their roar with the exception of Yuvraj Singh, Sammy and company will have to play top-drawer cricket to stop the Indian juggernaut.
India's batsmen have prospered and a young bowling unit has sparkled with R. Ashwin and Umesh Yadav proving they are equal to their relatively more experienced peers — Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha.
The match here will give another opportunity to the quartet to confirm their tickets on the flight to Australia in December.
Amidst the emotions that the big three — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman — will evoke (as there is no guarantee that the trio will be together when India plays a Test again at Mumbai in the future) and the statistical gaze over the maestro's much-awaited 100th international hundred, one youngster will feel the weight of expectations.
Kohli in
Virat Kohli will step into Yuvraj's shaky shoes and the 23-year-old needs to secure the number six slot. Kohli had a poor run during the three Tests in the West Indies and he now gets another chance to prove his credentials against the same rival.
The youngster has the ability as evident in 2207 first-class runs at an average of 52.54 and he has adjusted to the pressure in the game's shorter formats. The next five days will test his temperament under the extended scrutiny that only happens in Tests.
Meanwhile the West Indies will suffer a big blow if Chanderpaul fails to recover in time. The veteran has amassed 1710 Test runs against India and is behind Vivian Richards (1787) and Clive Lloyd (2005).
Chanderpaul, with scores of 118, 47, 4 and 47, has anchored the West Indies at Delhi and Kolkata and only Darren Bravo (190 runs) has contributed significantly among other batsmen in the current series.
Bravo's 136 at Kolkata proved that spin can be countered though his and the team's revival, failed to stymie the Indians' victory march.
Sammy is now banking on the pitch's bounce and even said that he might have a seam-based attack as the fast bowlers have grabbed 14 wickets, far higher than the seven that were garnered by Devendra Bishoo, Marlon Samuels and Kraigg Brathwaite. The truth will be known only at the toss on Tuesday as at Kolkata, Sammy spoke about including spinner Shane Shillingford and at the last-minute plumped for Kemar Roach.
The teams (from):
India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Virat Kohli, R. Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Sharma.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels and Shane Shillingford.
Umpires: Tony Hill and Bruce Oxenford; Third umpire: Shavir Tarapore; Match referee: David Boon.
Hours of play: 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.; 12.10 p.m. to 2.10 p.m.; 2.30 p.m. to close.
