India favourites in Dominica's Test debut

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Match facts

July 6-10, Dominica
Start time 1000 (1400 GMT, 1930 IST)

	Does Harbhajan have it in him to face the reality of his form slump? © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Matches: West Indies v India at Roseau Series/Tournaments: India tour of West Indies Teams: India | West Indies

Big Picture

India are 1-0 up with one to play, and with better weather might have sealed the series in Barbados, but the scoreline obscures some worrying realities. In four innings they have not once reached 300, that despite inordinate contributions from the old firm of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. India's IPL generation, with the notable exception of Suresh Raina, has stumbled in what is arguably the easiest overseas assignment a Test side can currently hope for. It is a cause for some concern, considering the inevitable change of guard the middle-order will go through in the next couple of years.

The story is inverted in the bowling department: the youngsters have pulled their weight, while the spearhead hasn't. Praveen Kumar has impressively transferred his seam mastery to the red ball; Ishant Sharma has banished the pain of two seasons of under-achievement, with a series of sparkling spells from which there should be no turning back. Harbhajan Singh, however, has slipped into a comfort zone - both for himself and the batsmen facing him. There is a chance he will not reach the 400-wicket milestone in the Caribbean, despite having needed only seven wickets to get there at the start of the series.

After the crushing disappointment in Jamaica, West Indies have plenty of positives to take out of Barbados. Fidel Edwards, on a comeback trail, is a work in progress, but there was enough evidence to suggest he is close to the finished product. Ravi Rampaul and Devendra Bishoo have stuck to the task, rarely allowing India's line-up to dictate terms. The problem for the hosts, though, lies in the batting and there were signs of improvement in Barbados. Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo - two players who exemplify the flamboyance of Caribbean batsmanship - showed they have the ability to grind out innings. It is a crucial step forward, given Ramnaresh Sarwan's alarming decline, Chris Gayle's continued absence and the drop in Shivnarine Chanderpaul's once-immense powers. Can Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath follow the example set by Bravo and Samuels? If the openers continue to wobble against the new ball, expect India to make it 2-0 without much strife.

Form guide (most recent first)

India: DWDWL
West Indies: DLLWD

In the spotlight

MS Dhoni has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. His comment on umpiring standards in the first Test may have hastened Daryl Harper's retirement. Dhoni's batting has been an advertisement for shoddy shot-selection, and his drop of Carlton Baugh in the final session in Barbados potentially cost India a win. To make matters worse, his bowlers maintained such poor over-rates that he is now one infringement away from a match ban. His captaincy has, however, remained sharp judging by his field settings and the enterprising declaration in Barbados. Can Dhoni make a significant contribution as a player in Dominica?

Ravi Rampaul may not have the natural talent of the men who set the Caribbean ablaze in the 1980s, but he has heart and discipline - both crucial ingredients for a side seeking a revival. Rampaul's skidding action combines well with his tendency to whip the ball in, short of a length, almost inevitably on the seam. In his last four Tests, he has struck in his first over in four innings, a stat that makes him a nightmare for top-order batsmen.

The doosra is a thing of the past. The floater he mastered in the pre-doosra years has fizzled into a poorly disguised topspinner that doesn't trouble set batsmen. The bounce is sporadic, the flight and loop conspicuous by their absence, the turn is not sharp and the drift is harmless in the absence of the other factors. After 95 Tests, and in his 14th year of international cricket, Harbhajan Singh finds himself stuck in a dangerous cycle of under-achievement, perhaps ushered in by over-exposure to the shorter formats. He has the tenacity to rediscover his magic, but the first step to redemption will be admitting that he is in a slump. Does Harbhajan have it in him to confront reality?

Team news

Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were involved in a minor collision while playing football in a training session, but both should be fit to play. Dhoni has a few tricky decisions to make ahead of the toss. Abhimanyu Mithun's honest but underwhelming effort in Barbados, coupled with the over-rate threat, could tempt him to bring legspinner Amit Mishra back, unless the pitch is unduly grassy. M Vijay and Virat Kohli have had poor series, and have subsequently lost their spots for the England tour. Will they be motivated enough to perform in the decider? Or will India be better served using Parthiv Patel and S Badrinath, who will be fresh, and eager to prove a point since they aren't in the England squad either?

India (probable): 1 Abhinav Mukund, 2 M Vijay, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Virat Kohli / S Badrinath, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Abhimanyu Mithun / Amit Mishra

With their new-ball pair working so well, West Indies may once again choose to bench Kemar Roach. Kieran Powell will make his Test debut at the pivotal No. 3 spot, but he can do no worse than the disastrously out of form Sarwan, whose place he takes.

West Indies (probable): 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Marlon Samuels, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Fidel Edwards / Kemar Roach, 11 Devendra Bishoo

Pitch and conditions

The Windsor Park at Roseau, Dominica, is set to become Test cricket's 106th venue. It has been more than a year since the ground hosted the last of its four ODIs - a high-scoring thriller involving South Africa and West Indies. The more accessible - and given the happenings in Barbados, more crucial - variable is the weather, and the forecasts aren't promising: showers are predicted on each of the five days of the Test. The curator, though, says the ground has excellent drainage facilities.

The curator and West Indies captain Darren Sammy have both said there will be bounce in the pitch. There was a four-day match played at the venue between England Lions and Windward Islands in March in which two left-arm spinners - Gary Mathurin of the hosts and Danny Briggs of the visitors - shared 19 of the 39 wickets to fall in the match. The seamers got carry and bounce from the pitch in that match, which produced a result early on the fourth day.

Stats and trivia

• India have never won two Tests in a series in the West Indies. Excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, they have not won more than one Test in an away series since Pakistan in 2004
  
• Harbhajan Singh is now two wickets away from becoming the third Indian bowler and 11th overall to reach 400 wickets
  
• Shivnarine Chanderpaul averages 33.00 so far in 2011, the lowest he has averaged in any single year since 2001
  

Quotes

"His body position used to force his grip to change. Now he's more upright, and his wrist is in a better position. Only when you are confident about the technique and start bowling at the pace you are capable of, can you be at your best."
Eric Simons is pleased with the changes in Ishant Sharma's action, and the consequent results

"I have played four tours here and these have been some of the toughest tracks I have faced. Guys will learn a lot from this experience."
Rahul Dravid has words of encouragement for India's misfiring young brigade

Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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'Some of the toughest pitches I've faced' - Dravid

ESPNcricinfo staff

Rahul Dravid has described India's Test series against West Indies as a tough learning experience for the younger batsmen and he hopes it will hold them in good stead for the future. India have not posted 300-plus in any of the four innings so far, but they lead the three-Test series 1-0 heading in to the final match.

"It's been tough for the batsmen," Dravid said. "It's not been easy for young batsmen to come in and face the new ball on these tracks. I have played four tours here and this has been some of the toughest tracks I have faced. Guys will learn a lot from this experience. It will hold them in good stead. As I was telling some of them they probably might not play on these kinds of tracks."

The likes of Virat Kohli and M Vijay haven't really come to the terms with the pitches and neither man has made 50 runs for the whole series. Vijay battled hard for nearly two hours in the first innings in Barbados and Kohli fought hard in the second innings but neither converted their starts. Abhinav Mukund made 48 in the second innings but couldn't carry on. Dravid felt that in the circumstances, India's batting had held up well.

"It's been a tough, hard series from the batsmen's perspective," he said. "The tracks have been slightly tilted towards bowlers, which is good. The West Indies' bowling has been good. From that perspective we have been challenged in this series and that has been good. People might say the batting hasn't fired but in the context of the series we have not done too badly. The tracks have had pace and bounce compared to the tracks they played in ODIs and tracks we played last time. If not for rain in Barbados we would have had two results."

	Rahul Dravid says the batsmen have had to work hard on difficult pitches © Associated Press Enlarge

Dravid counted Ishant Sharma as one of the big positives to emerge from this series. "Ishant has been sensational. Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Abhimanyu Mithun and Amit Mishra all have done their job. The slip catching has been good. Touch wood, I hope I don't jinx it but slip catching has been top class. These are all the positives."

Ishant suffered a light cut under his eye while playing football in the training session today but Dravid said the injury wasn't serious. "Ishant has just a small bruise. A little bit of cut. He should be fine."

Dravid said India would go in to the final Test in Dominica with a winning mindset, rather than opting for safety first and trying to keep their 1-0 lead. "The Test match is an important one," Dravid said. "We are not worrying about the series. We've got the team to win this Test match. We would have liked to win the series in Barbados but to lose 130 overs due to rain was disappointing. We were in control of that Test match, especially from the second innings onwards. This is a good chance to win a series here again. We have to put up five days of big performance here."

Dravid said he hadn't seen the pitch yet but that he believed it would have some pace and bounce. "There will be some good atmosphere - this is the first Test match here and I believe when a one-day match was played here there was good crowd," he said. "Hopefully they will come in for the Test."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

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Dravid Statistical Highlights After 2nd Test

# Rahul Dravid  (55) has recorded his second highest innings at Bridgetown -- the highest being 78 in March 1997.
# Dravid's knock is his 11th fifty against the West Indies.
# Dravid is the first player to complete 200 runs in the present series, totalling 212 (ave.53.00), including one hundred and one fifty.
# Dravid (6996 at an average of 53.81 in 85 Tests) needs just four runs to complete his 7,000 runs overseas.
# Dravid now holds an Indian record with his 60th fifty, eclipsing Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 59 fifties.
# Dravid is the second batsman to post 60 fifties in Tests, joining Allan Border (63).
# Rahul Dravid is the first player to appear in 200 innings at number three in Test cricket.

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Dravid wants Team India to put better show than 2006

Former captain, Rahul Dravid, expects the Indian cricket team to come up with even better performance in the upcoming West Indies tour than the one they demonstrated in 2006.

During India’s tour to West Indies in 2006, the team, under the superb captaincy of Dravid, made a mark in history by winning a Test series on West Indian soil after the long period of 35 years.
Dravid led his side to a triumph in the four-match series and become the only second Indian captain to have won Test series in Caribbean after Ajit Wadekar.

"We won the series there last time around but I hope we will do better this time," Dravid said.
However, the stylish batsman admitted that the Windies will not prove to be an easy opposition in their home conditions.

The former skipper added, "If the West Indies play their full strength side, they will be a tough team to beat. But it will be interesting to see if they have their full side."  

Dravid, widely known as ‘The Wall’, has served his country in 150 Tests in which he scored over 12000 runs at a fabulous average of 52.44.

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Sachin Rested, Yuvraj & Gauti Out, Mukund & Kohli Earn Test Cap

India's Already Weak Line Up Against West Indies in Test Series suffered another blow with the World Cup Hero Yuvraj Singh & The In-Form Gambhir OUT because of injury, Sachin Was rested for the entire Series. Flamboyant Virat Kohli finally gets a chance in test after his brilliant outing in World Cup & IPL and Tamil Nadu Opener A Mukund also earned a spot after a prolific Ranji Season.

Suresh Raina has been appointed captain for the one-dayers and the Twenty20 fixture and Harbhajan Singh, the vice-captain. 

Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary have replaced Yuvraj and Gambhir in the limited-overs squad.  

So, in all India are without Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer Khan, Gambhir and Ashish Nehra for the one-dayers.

Chairman Of Selectors K Srikkanth told the reporters :

 "I think we will do very well. I think we have an excellent team and I think as you know, I think all the last couple of years indirect or directly there have been teams that has been, we've always had teams, we've always kind of shuffled people so that, we always create a good bench strength."

And I think we have a fantastic bench strength and I'm sure India can easily produce almost two good international teams because we have the talent. We have the potential and I'm very confident that our team will do very well in West Indies and hopefully win the series in West Indies,"

He Also Said “Tendulkar deserved to take rest and then Yuvraj was not well, so we have picked the best available squad. We have analysed every problem… The injuries to the players… That is why the meeting took long,” said the former Test opener.

“We got very good inputs from the coach and the captain was also present. So I am really happy to have picked this squad. I think we will do well in the ODI and Test series,” he said."

Test squad: M S Dhoni (capt), V V S Laxman (vice-captain), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk).

Limited-overs squad: Suresh Raina (capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.

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Rahul Dravid in West Indies

Dravid has scored in bilks in West Indies. Last time around, he was the captain. Gave India the series win by 1-0. He was MOM in the winning match and was also the MOS. All in all, WI has been an awesome place for Dravid where he averages 70.00 with 1260 runs under his belt.

One of his finest Test performance came at the Sabina Park, where he stood tall against pacy Jerome Taylor & Correy Collymore. Not just once. But in both the innings. He scored two monumental fifties (81 & 68) in the game and put India on the verge of a historic series win.

Apart from this, Dravid has 2 100s in WI. 144* & 146. Watch out for him this time.

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I hope we will do better in West Indies this time: Dravid

   

Former captain Rahul Dravid is hopeful about the Indian cricket team improving upon its 2006 performance in the upcoming tour of the West Indies.  During the 2006 West Indies tour, the Indian team created history under Dravid's captaincy when they won a Test series in the Caribbean for the first time in 35 years. 

"We won the series there last time around but I hope we will do better this time," he said on the sidelines of a promotional event.

"If the West Indies play their full strength side, they will be a tough team to beat. But it will be interesting to see if they have their full side." 

Dravid became only the second Indian skipper, after Ajit Wadekar, to have won a Test series in the West Indies when he led India to a 1-0 victory in a four-match rubber in 2006.

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Full-fledged WI will be strong: Dravid

MUMBAI: West Indies look a better side than what most thought after their thrilling 40-run win in the first Test against Pakistan at Georgetown, Guyana. However, will they be able to stand up to the might of world champs India in a series that begins in the Caribbeans from June 4? Rahul Dravid certainly thinks so.

He feels that if some of the top West Indian cricketers playing in the Indian Premier League - and not playing for the Windies for various reasons - return to international cricket, the Calypso Charmers will present a formidable challenge.

"I still think that a full-fledged West Indian team will be a very strong side to play against. But it will be interesting to see if they have their full side," Dravid said at a promotional event of the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. Former Windies skipper Chris Gayle, excluded from the team and involved in a run-in with the cricket authorities back home, has been in blistering form for the Royal Challengers Bangalore this season, having smashed an incredible 32 sixes and two hundreds, both unique feats in the context of the IPL. Other than the explosive opener, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Jerome Taylor and Kieron Pollard have also been playing in the League, instead of representing their country.

The former India skipper (remember!) led the team to a historic series win (1-0), the first in 35 years, in the Caribbean in 2006. This time, he will tour as just a player, that too in Tests. "We won the series there last time. I hope we will do better this time," said Dravid.

Analysing his IPL team's performances this season, which hasn't been great - Royals have lost seven, including the last four in a row, while winning just five out of 13 - Dravid said: "We are not in a position to get to the play-offs. We have got some up and down performances. There have been some good efforts too. We have some youngsters doing well for us. We can improve next year. We hope to do our best in the upcoming seasons."

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