The winning captain BRIANLARA
The bleary-eyed disposition of West Indies skipper Brian Lara at his first press conference seemed to scream out just one question: Why are we playing in India, when we should be getting used to the new stadiums and conditions back home?
India is in the midst of preparing for cricket’s biggest tournament, the 2007 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies. Yet, instead of going to the West Indies and trying to gain some first hand knowledge about the conditions, India have the hosts down to play a four-match ODI series in India.
The journey from the West Indies to India takes approximately 24 hours and getting rid of the jet lag might just take a little bit longer. By the time of the first ODI, the West Indian players would have just about started getting acclimatised to the conditions.
“It would have been much better for the Indians to have come to the West Indies. It would have benefited them as well as us,” said Lara. “But we needed to get some international cricket under our belt.”
The West Indies last played some international cricket during the series against Pakistan. The final ODI of that series was on December 16 and for more than a month now, while other nations are tuning up for the big tournament, they have been languishing at home. They are some who say that India was in West Indies in June 2005 but the pitches they played on would have changed by now. The pitches were then virgin wickets, slow and low — by now they would have firmed up and they will play differently.
In recent times, West Indies have dominated India in the one-day arena, winning 6 of the last 7 matches. Before the series against the West Indies in May, India were on a winning streak of their very own. Their record since the tour of Sri Lanka when Dravid first took over as skipper was 17 wins and just four losses. Since then, India have managed to win just 3 more ODIs and their record now stands at 20 wins and 16 losses.
India is in the midst of preparing for cricket’s biggest tournament, the 2007 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies. Yet, instead of going to the West Indies and trying to gain some first hand knowledge about the conditions, India have the hosts down to play a four-match ODI series in India.
The journey from the West Indies to India takes approximately 24 hours and getting rid of the jet lag might just take a little bit longer. By the time of the first ODI, the West Indian players would have just about started getting acclimatised to the conditions.
“It would have been much better for the Indians to have come to the West Indies. It would have benefited them as well as us,” said Lara. “But we needed to get some international cricket under our belt.”
The West Indies last played some international cricket during the series against Pakistan. The final ODI of that series was on December 16 and for more than a month now, while other nations are tuning up for the big tournament, they have been languishing at home. They are some who say that India was in West Indies in June 2005 but the pitches they played on would have changed by now. The pitches were then virgin wickets, slow and low — by now they would have firmed up and they will play differently.
In recent times, West Indies have dominated India in the one-day arena, winning 6 of the last 7 matches. Before the series against the West Indies in May, India were on a winning streak of their very own. Their record since the tour of Sri Lanka when Dravid first took over as skipper was 17 wins and just four losses. Since then, India have managed to win just 3 more ODIs and their record now stands at 20 wins and 16 losses.
posted by Raghu Ram Prasad @ 8:23 AM
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