After the drama and emotion of Sachin Tendulkar's farewell to Test cricket, India get back to the task of playing today as they take on West Indies in the opening one-day international (ODI) in Kochi on Thursday.
MS Dhoni’s men are out to build on the momentum of their dominant 2-0 victory in the Test series against the same opponents, in which both matches were won by an innings.
India impressed in their ODI series against Australia last month, which they won 3-2, with plenty of high scores coming, most notably Rohit Sharma’s double hundred in the seventh ODI with Australia in Bangalore earlier this month.
But Dhoni has warned the middle-order batsmen Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh that more is expected from them in the series against West Indies, after both struggled to contribute whey they faced Australia.
Raina, who bats at No 4, averaged only 25 with a top score of 39, while Yuvraj, the current holder of the No 5 slot, toiled to score just 19 runs in six innings to leave him with an average of 4.75.
Dhoni told Cricinfo: “It’s important, not only for them but also for the team, that they score runs – the No 4 and No 5 spots are very important.
“After the openers set the platform, these guys capitalise in the last 10-15 overs.”
After today’s game, the series continues in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, before the three-match series wraps up in Kanpur on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are hoping for better luck with the weather in their second Twenty20 international today in Pallekelle.
The match has effectively become a winner-takes-all for the series after Tuesday’s first match was called off, without a ball being bowled, due to heavy rain.
The teams have not had much fortune with the weather, with two of the three ODIs played being hit by rain, leading to the first game being abandoned and the third becoming a reduced-overs encounter.
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