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27-Jun-2011 09:34:00 GMT
West Indies v India, 2nd Test, Barbados

India Aim to Series Victory as End Barbados Losing Streak

Bridgetown: An unbeatable series lead on their mind, a confident India take on a demoralised West Indies in the second Test on Tuesday, hoping to break a 58-year winless streak at the Kensington Oval.

All-conquering Indian captain MS Dhoni has made little secret of his desire to win at a venue where India has lost five successive Tests since 1971.

The Indians have in fact never won at the venue since it first played host to them in 1953, losing seven while drawing a game at the venue and that draw came way back in 1971.

Dhoni walked in with his troops at the Kensington Oval on a greyish Sunday afternoon and spent longer time with them in the nets than he usually does.

He also made a departure from his usual practice of not inspecting the pitch and almost shared a conclave on the 22-yard strip with Harbhajan Singh and two selectors Narendra Hirwani and Surendra Bhave present in the Caribbean.

However, that's time bygone and today the hosts lack the firepower almost to the same degree as the visitors are oozing confidence.

West Indies are aware they let go a splendid chance in Sabina Park last week and that the Indians are only going to get better from now on.

A troubled West Indies have thus sought the services of cricket's best-known psychologist Rudi Webster who, over the next five days, would try to get them out of a defeatist mindset.

It must be ominous to the West Indies that the Indians are not too happy with the way they won at Sabina Park.

Dhoni said on Saturday his team was getting anxious when the last-wicket West Indian pair had entrenched itself in the middle on the fourth afternoon.

On other-hand, West Indies are unlikely to tamper with their pace attack and the only change from the first game ought to be the induction of Marlon Samuels even as game-changer Chris Gayle continues to cool his heels in the stands due to his feud with the cricket board.

The Jamaican showed glimpses of his fine touch in the one-day series and would lap up this moment of career resumption.

Samuels played his first Test in three years against Pakistan this season and promptly hit a half-century. He has a decent average of over 43 against India from three Tests, including a century.

India too may make a change and medium-pacer Munaf Patel could be included in place of leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

Teams from

West Indies:
Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carlton Baugh (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain & wk), Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ishant Sharma.

Stats & trivia

  • Harbhajan Singh needs just four wickets to reach 400-wicket mark.
  • Ishant Sharma requires four for his 100 Test wickets,
  • VVS Laxman needs 85 for complete 8000 Test runs.
  • Dhoni 59 for his 3000 Test runs.

Match facts
June 28-July 02, 2011
Start time 10:00 local (14:00 GMT), 19:30 IST


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