ODI preview / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 01 December 2011 /

India somehow got over the line on Monday and we can expect another close encounter again on Friday. The West Indies' batsman Darren Bravo is the man to show faith in, says Jamie Pacheco.

The first ODI was not a good advert for the art of building an innings, tight bowling or good fielding. Only Darren Bravo and man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma passed fifty on what was actually a decent batting wicket, a total of 33 extras were conceded in a low-scoring match while both sides were guilty of dropped catches and overthrows.

But on the plus side all this created a thrilling finale. India's numbers 10 and 11 at the crease desperately trying to get over the line having given up several winning positions during the course of the match.

The even better news for the series as a whole is that without such star names as Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar in the side the world champions are vulnerable. This is without even mentioning the fact that in the absence of Mr Cool himself, MS Dhoni, they lack inspirational leadership and a priceless middle-order finisher who knows exactly what to do in all circumstances. That should mean that a near full-strength West Indies should at the very least be competitive throughout the Series. For the neutral and the punter, that's a good thing.

Team News

There's a good chance that both teams will be unchanged for this match with the possible exception of Sunil Narine getting a game ahead of Anthony Martin for the Windies.

Kieron Pollard can consider himself lucky that Dwayne Bravo is out injured. Pollard may be considered to be one of the first-ever T20 specialists and may be one of the pin-up boys of the IPL but his woes in the 50-over game continue. He was expensive with the ball in what was a low-scoring match (23 runs off 5 overs) and a disaster with the bat, guilty of not knowing whether to stick or twist. He scratched around for 13 of 33 balls without scoring a boundary and got caught at long on when playing his first attacking stroke of the innings. With little alternatives in the squad he's likely to keep his place though.

Venue

The YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam is a high-scoring ground where all six innings played there have seen the batting team pass 250. We'll have to wait till the toss to see if dew will once again be a factor.

Match Odds

It's not too far-fetched to think that Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath could get the Windies of to a good start if they bat first on a track that rewards clean hitting. It's equally not that unlikely that Virender Sehwag could depart early if India bat first. He scored a brisk 20 on Monday but that was mostly off poor bowling and included a four off a free hit. The pressures of captaincy may well affect his game. Either way, a back-to-lay of the West Indies at [3.4] is the best way to go with a view to getting out in the first 10 overs of the match. Jump ship if they hit [2.5] and definitely choose another mode of transport altogether if they're batting and India's spinners are about to come on.

West Indies Batsman

Trying to predict who will be top bat for India is a bit of a lottery at the best of times. An example of which was the recalled Rohit Sharma playing one of his best innings ever in the first ODI and top scoring in the process.

Doing so for the Windies should be more straightforward. Pollard and Simmons didn't feature in the Test series so have had little time to get used to Indian conditions so we can rule those two out. A case could be made for Adrian Barath but the better bet is the ultra-reliable Darren Bravo who may lack the style and panache of big brother Dwayne but has more discipline and patience. Just the sort of qualities we look for in a potential innings top batsman. He won this market on Monday and at [4.6] is our bet to do so again.

Back Darren Bravo to top score for the West Indies @ [4.6]

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