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NEWS
India, West Indies hope to shed 'strugglers' tag
Georgetown, April 10: The first Test starting at Bourda here on
Thursday will pit the travel-sick Indian tourists against a West
Indian team wallowing in an unaccustomed slump in form.
India are formidable at home and fragile abroad, having failed to win
a Test series outside the sub-continent since 1986 when they beat
England under Kapil Dev's captaincy.
The West Indies have also been shedding their prowess of late and are
without a win in their past five Tests. They were blanked 3-0 in Sri
Lanka and then 2-0 by Pakistan at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
West Indies skipper Carl Hooper said he did not believe India's dismal
away record would give his team an advantage.
"We're not at a stage where we can take any series easy. We've also
struggled overseas. We can't afford to be complacent playing at home.
"Each match of a Test series is important for us. All we want is that
the West Indies does well," said Hooper.
The presence of a batting genius in each side — Brian Lara for the
West Indies and Sachin Tendulkar for India — has not been enough to
improve the teams' away Test records.
The left-handed Lara made 688 in Sri Lanka to become the
second-highest scorer in a three-Test series after Englishman Graham
Gooch's 752 against India in 1990, but could not prevent his team from
losing the series.
He missed his team's next Test series against Pakistan due to an elbow
injury, sustained in a one-day international in Sri Lanka.
Hooper said Lara's return to the squad augured well as the West Indies
look to put pressure on India by piling up a big total.
"It's great to have Lara back in the team. He's the key batsman," he
said.
India's problems begin when they step away from home where
spinner-friendly pitches and crowd support spur them on to do the
unexpected, like a 2-1 win over Steve Waugh's Australians last year.
When denied such luxuries abroad, India just fail to deliver despite
having one of the best batsmen in Tendulkar.
"Tendulkar is a world-class player. He's going to have his days, but
we have to see he doesn't score many," said Hooper.
Indian preparations for the Test received a blow on Sunday when their
top off-spinner Harbhajan Singh injured his shoulder while throwing
from the deep in a three-day fixture.
Fellow-spinner Sarandeep Singh has joined the squad in case Harbhajan
is ruled out of the Test.
"The final decision on Harbhajan will be taken after a fitness test
before the match," said Indian manager Gautam Dasgupta.
The West Indies are planning to counter the Indian batting with pace,
having included four fast bowlers in their team.
But pace, the trump card of West Indian teams in the past, has also
lost much of its threat after the retirements of Curtly Ambrose in
2000 and Courtney Walsh last year.
"We've picked four fast bowlers and one spinner, but will assess the
conditions before deciding whether to play with four or three pacemen,"
said Hooper.
West Indies (from): Carl Hooper (capt), Chris Gayle, Stuart Williams,
Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ryan Hinds,
Junior Murray, Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Marlon Black, Adam
Sanford, Mahendra Nagamootoo.
India (from): Sourav Ganguly (capt), Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta,
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Dinesh Mongia, Anil
Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Sanjay Bangar,
Ajay Ratra, Tinu Yohannan, Ashish Nehra, Wasim Jaffar, Sarandeep
Singh.
Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SL) and Daryl Harper (AUS).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL).
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