India (From): Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar, Rudra Pratap Singh
West Indies (From): Devon Smith, Andre Fletcher, Kieran Powell, Travis Dowlin, Floyd Reifer(c), David Bernard, Darren Sammy, Chadwick Walton(w), Nikita Miller, Tino Best, Gavin Tonge, Royston Crandon, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Kevin McClean
Teams:
A lot of our boys have watched him on television and seen how good he is. It would be a challenge bowling to him and get him out. It would do any young bowler a world of good: Floyd Riefer saying that his bowlers would go all-out while bowling against Sachin Tendulkar.
We would delay our team selection. It depends on how the match is progressing. If we need to strengthen our batting we would do so. If we need the bowling to get stronger, we would do that: Dhoni, mentioning that the Pakistan-Australia match would influence the selection on the Indian eleven.
Sound Bytes:
97: The number of runs required for Sachin Tendulkar to reach the landmark of 17,000 in One-Day cricket.
54.17: Sachin Tendulkar’s batting average against West Indies in ODIs. He is fourth on the list of players with most runs against West Indies in ODIs. He has scored 1571 runs against them, which includes 4 hundreds and 11 fifties in 38 matches.
Numbers Game:
Head to Head in CT: India and West Indies have faced off against each other two times in a Champions Trophy encounter. On both those occasions, West Indies had emerged as the victorious team.
Gavin Tonge: He had Pakistan dancing to his tunes with the ball during the Champions Trophy and this cricketer from the Caribbean is not someone to be taken lightly. An upcoming quick, Tonge would look to put India in trouble as he hopes to make a mark and find himself as a reckoning factor in Windies cricket.
Ishant Sharma: Fearlessness comes with the young – That was what said about Ishant Sharma, who sprang onto the big scene with his wonderful show of bowling. But the same cannot be said of him right now as the rookie pacer looks out of sorts in the Champions Trophy. Having said that, one good show and his steam would be back. This is what India would be hoping for as they take on an under-strength Windies.
Form Guide:
West Indies: Termed as a ‘Second string team’ coming into the tournament, the team from the Caribbean have done more than justice to their performance in the Champions Trophy. Playing against teams such as Australia and Pakistan and giving them a run for their money is no mean feat. The Windies have done just this, announcing that they are not a team to be taken lightly. Their bowling form seems to be on the top, as the matches against Australia and Pakistan suggests. Their batting, while failing to deliver against Pakistan, came good against Australia and almost sprung a surprise against the defending champions. The Indian team will find a hard nut to crack in the Windies, while the ‘Rum Nation’, with nothing to lose, would go all guns blazing against the Men in Blue.
India: ‘Down and almost out’ – This is India’s story in the Champions Trophy as they pray for Pakistan’s victory against Australia. Coming into the Champions Trophy, India were touted as one of the favourites along with South Africa, but contrary to those speculations, Pakistan beating Australia and India defeating West Indies by a huge margin is the only possible route for India to qualify to the semi-finals and not follow the South African way. Their bowling performance against the Aussies was slightly better when compared to the performance against Pakistan. Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar performed well with the new ball and Amith Mishra certainly justified Dhoni’s decision to pick him for the match. However, Ishant Sharma once again showed that he was a bowler short of confidence with his display of wayward bowling, and Harbhajan went for 6 runs an over during his spell. India never got a chance to bat against the Aussies with the match being washed out during the Australian innings. As mentioned earlier, India’s hope now rest on Pakistan beating Australia.
Temperatures: Min – 13C Max – 23C | Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
The Pitch: The pitch at the Wanderers is a typical South African wicket providing assistance to the seamers. The current edition of the Champions Trophy has seen 5 matches played here of which 4 have been low scoring encounters.
Ground Reality: Home to the Highveld Lions, Wanderers, nicknamed ‘The Bullring’, played host to many a memorable match and one such was the epic encounter between Australia and South Africa where the Proteas chased down a colossal target of 434 runs set by the Kangaroos. The Wanderers also played host to the 2007 T20 World Cup final as well as the IPL finals where the Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers.
