Upbeat West Indies hunt for consistency

Oct 11, 2014 Sports

ESPNcricinfo – West Indies are an erratic one-day team. They can be prone to self-destruction.

Sulieman Benn bowled with good control. (BCCI)

West Indies are an endearing one-day team. Their batting line-up boasts the kind of power that excites most followers of cricket, and they have a number of interesting characters in there. Addressing this split-personality issue would be high on the visitor’s agenda with the World Cup on the horizon, and they took a step towards that in Kochi despite being without a few first-choice players.
They bucked a perception of their batsmen being allergic to singles – there were 92 of them in a total of 321 – and their bowlers harnessed the advantage of a huge total well. Sustaining a performance like that has been a problem though as a record of 18 wins against 20 losses over the past two years suggests.
India would want to orchestrate a recurrence of those problems. Their go-to method for that at home is to strangle the opposition by spin. But R Ashwin, who has bowled 85 overs with an economy rate of 5.34 in the last 12 months at home, has been rested for this series. They do, however, have Ravindra Jadeja, who has gone for 5.23 an over in that period. That is why MS Dhoni said he was more concerned with zeroing in on his seam bowlers for the World Cup. Yet, as Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin showed, if India’s spinners are attacked they can be coaxed into bowling flatter and quicker, and in essence limiting their chances of turning the ball.
Another strength-turned-concern for India is the form of their top order. Virat Kohli’s weakness outside off stump has followed him home from England. Ambati Rayudu contributed to his own dismissal when he ran down and swiped to mid-on. Shikhar Dhawan was not as fluent as he normally is but mustered the only notable contribution with 68. India would hope Kochi was just a blip on the radar.
Watch out for:
Mohammed Shami is one of India’s bowlers who has been tasked with handling the death overs. He can dig those yorkers in at the batsmen’s boots, but when they go awry, they really go awry. A pin-point yorker uprooted Kieron Pollard’s leg stump, but another attempt at it offered Denesh Ramdin a very high full toss that was dispatched over point for six. India would hope he cultivates better consistency before the World Cup.
Sulieman Benn is the only specialist spinner West Indies have on this tour. His height has made him awkward to deal and he marries that with good accuracy. Subcontinent conditions will give him turn as well. He was needed for only five overs in Kochi and conceded only 16. He might expect to bowl a few more in Delhi.
Pitch and weather
The pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla has received some bad press in recent times. Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir wanted three of his home games in the last Ranji season shifted elsewhere in search of an outright result. The curator hopes to change that image and has said he was preparing a surface on which batsmen can trust the bounce and bowlers can enjoy good carry. On the eve of this match, the pitch was reported to be quite green, but that was expectedly only to hold it together and would be shaved off. The weather is expected to be sunny, but later on dew is expected to be a factor again.