The second ODI between India and West Indies will be played on Sunday on the same ground at Jamaica, as the hosts try to get back at the visitors after having lost the first encounter.
This is a four match series, and West Indies will realise that a loss here will mean that India cannot lose the series from here.
West Indies (11/10 at Coral to beat India) will take heart from history which had seen India win the first game of the last series these two countries had played in this country, only to lose four successive games after that. Again, they had many positives emanating from their batting, like the batting of Shivnaraine Chanderpaul (4/1 at Coral to be top West Indian batsman) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (4/1 at Totesport to be highest scorer for West Indies in the game) – the top and the second highest scorer of the previous game. Most of the other batsmen also fired for the hosts, right from Runako Morton who was making a comeback into the Indian team to Chris Gayle (7/2 at Totesport to top West Indian batting) who provided a more than a decent start for the West Indian team.
However, the one missing factor was their lack of ability to have been able to play through the innings like Yuvraj Singh did for India and see the team through. While Gayle may be a favourite to smash around and get to a quick fifty, it will need someone from Sarwan, Chanderpaul or even Dwayne Bravo (10/1 at Coral to be highest West Indian scorer) to guide the West Indian innings through the middle overs. It will gravely depend on how the Indians bowl to the middle order, and a good spell from the Indian spinners could have Gayle emerge as the top scorer; especially given that he likes the ball to come onto the bat.
West Indies will worry about their bowling though, with the flat pitch rendering most of them impotent in the first game. Jerome Taylor’s fitness niggles ever since the West Indians had beaten England in the home test series have had an effect on his control and zip, and conceding 74 runs in his quota of overs meant that he could just be rested for the second ODI.
Sporting Bet offers 17/20 for an Indian win, but a lot will depend on how the openers come along. Gautam Gambhir’s (4/1 at Ladbrokes to overcome his issues and score the highest) inability to handle the short ball could be the start of a rather long-term concern, but for this series, he will do well to shovel out of the way of those bouncers. Dinesh Karthik (5/1 at Sky Bet to be the best Indian scorer) was a surprise success as an opener, but Rohit Sharma (9/2 at Totesport) could go the Gambhir way and looks to be batting a tad high at number three. To me, M.S.Dhoni looked like he was regaining a bit of his form and he could be the Indian batsman to look out for in the second game. 888Sport offers 11/2 for the Indian captain to hit the best score for India.
Yuvraj’s (4/1 at Coral to be the highest Indian scorer again) run of form means that one cannot rule him out of scoring another of those sixes-laden tons, but my punt is on Dhoni to edge out the Prince from Patiala to hit the top score for the side.
Tips:
Favourites: India (17/20 at Sporting Bet)
Top Indian batsman: M.S.Dhoni (11/2 at 888Sport)
Top West Indian batsman: Chris Gayle (7/2 at Totesport)