Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's chase for 100th ton in the international cricket will be back in focus when India take on an inexperienced West Indies in the first encounter of the three-Test series beginning here tomorrow.
Tendulkar- The God of cricket- has been stuck on 99 tons since the ODI World Cup when he hit two centuries against England and South Africa and fans expect him to reach the milestone at the
Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
He missed the milestone by a whisker when he was trapped in front by Tim Bresnan nine runs short of the elusive landmark during the fifth day of the fourth and final Test against England at the Oval earlier this year.
However, for Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the focus will be on banishing the memories of the team's shambolic tour of England.
The men-in-blue were whitewashed 4-0 in one of their worst ever overseas performances, where they could not win a single international match.
The injury-ravaged team struggled against the fast bowlers, and as a result, lost their No.1 ranking in Tests.
"We will let him (Tendulkar) get the century and then we will speak about it. Hopefully, he gets it in this (the first) game and we will speak about it on the fifth day," Dhoni told reporters.
"It's a milestone Tendulkar will achieve, whether in this game, the next game or some other game. It's bound to happen.
"So rather than discussing too much ahead of the milestone coming in, what we are doing is we said 'okay, let him get the ton and then we'll talk about it'. We are thinking about how we
need to prepare for the series," said he.
"We want to be the best in the world but it's not something that belongs to you. You have to maintain it, you have to keep doing well.
"We did not do too well in England and that's why we are not the number one team right now. Again it becomes a process and to reach to the top of the world, you have to follow the process."
This series will give the Indian players a chance to prepare for the tough upcoming tour of Australia.
But it will not be a cakewalk for the hosts as the visitors are coming off a series win in Bangladesh.
India will once again be able to call on the services of regular openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and the middle order will look stronger with Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh also returning
from injuries.
Ace cricketer Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid, who has already notched four centuries this year, is expected to continue with his rich vein of form and provide stability to the middle-order.
BOWLING
Both the pace and slow-ball departments look inexperienced in the Indian side with medium-pacer Zaheer Khan still recovering from ankle surgery and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dropped,
Rookies Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron both impressed with their ability to generate pace and provide breakthroughs in India's 5-0 whitewash of England in the recently-concluded ODI series recently, while Ishant Sharma re-emerged as a genuine strike bowler, picking up 22 wickets in three Tests in the West Indies earlier this year.
Whereas, spinner Pragyan Ojha has played Test cricket before, but ODI specialist Ravichandran Ashwin and a leg-spinner Rahul Sharma are rank newcomers.
Meanwhile, the tourists can derive positives from their series victory in Bangladesh.
In the second and final Test in Dhaka, Kirk Edwards scored a century in the first innings and 86 in the second, Darren Bravo almost reached within the breathing space of maiden double century
and promising leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo claimed a first five-wicket haul.
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said the team is high on confidence after that win and are suitably warmed-up to subcontinental conditions.
"Over the last six to 12 months our fast bowlers, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy have done well and won us matches," Gibson said. "We know that India obviously will be heavy on spin but we believe in the quality of our fast bowlers."
"We have Fidel bowling quick at the moment and we hope we can cause some problems to the formidable Indian batting line-up.
"We believe that we have the quality to back ourselves. We know that the ball doesn't swing very long. You need to have added skills and we pay a lot of attention to that. We are skilled enough to
reverse it and get wickets as well," he added.
Skipper Darren Sammy also promised a "fearless" display in the series, which he labelled his team's biggest challenge to date.
Barring Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, none of the 13 other West Indies cricketers have played a test match in India and Sammy seemed fully aware of the task ahead.
"This is the biggest series for most of the guys here. Playing cricket in India is indescribable. The way cricket is held here, it's like religion. This by far is the biggest test for us, for me as the captain as well," said Sammy.
PITCH
This is just as big a test for Feroz Shah Kotla.
This is only the third first-class match, and the first Test Delhi is hosting after the abandonment of an ODI in 2009-10.
The re-laid pitch has been slow, low and lifeless for List A cricket.
In one of the two first-class games, it retained its Ranji reputation of early life when Gujarat were bowled out for 71 on the first morning, but neither of the matches produced a result. It is
hoped that the new Kotla will break away from the trend, especially considering November mornings are smoggy here, which could lead to loss of some play.
Squads:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant
Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran
Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.
Tendulkar- The God of cricket- has been stuck on 99 tons since the ODI World Cup when he hit two centuries against England and South Africa and fans expect him to reach the milestone at the
Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
He missed the milestone by a whisker when he was trapped in front by Tim Bresnan nine runs short of the elusive landmark during the fifth day of the fourth and final Test against England at the Oval earlier this year.
However, for Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the focus will be on banishing the memories of the team's shambolic tour of England.
The men-in-blue were whitewashed 4-0 in one of their worst ever overseas performances, where they could not win a single international match.
The injury-ravaged team struggled against the fast bowlers, and as a result, lost their No.1 ranking in Tests.
"We will let him (Tendulkar) get the century and then we will speak about it. Hopefully, he gets it in this (the first) game and we will speak about it on the fifth day," Dhoni told reporters.
"It's a milestone Tendulkar will achieve, whether in this game, the next game or some other game. It's bound to happen.
"So rather than discussing too much ahead of the milestone coming in, what we are doing is we said 'okay, let him get the ton and then we'll talk about it'. We are thinking about how we
need to prepare for the series," said he.
"We want to be the best in the world but it's not something that belongs to you. You have to maintain it, you have to keep doing well.
"We did not do too well in England and that's why we are not the number one team right now. Again it becomes a process and to reach to the top of the world, you have to follow the process."
This series will give the Indian players a chance to prepare for the tough upcoming tour of Australia.
But it will not be a cakewalk for the hosts as the visitors are coming off a series win in Bangladesh.
India will once again be able to call on the services of regular openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and the middle order will look stronger with Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh also returning
from injuries.
Ace cricketer Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid, who has already notched four centuries this year, is expected to continue with his rich vein of form and provide stability to the middle-order.
BOWLING
Both the pace and slow-ball departments look inexperienced in the Indian side with medium-pacer Zaheer Khan still recovering from ankle surgery and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dropped,
Rookies Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron both impressed with their ability to generate pace and provide breakthroughs in India's 5-0 whitewash of England in the recently-concluded ODI series recently, while Ishant Sharma re-emerged as a genuine strike bowler, picking up 22 wickets in three Tests in the West Indies earlier this year.
Whereas, spinner Pragyan Ojha has played Test cricket before, but ODI specialist Ravichandran Ashwin and a leg-spinner Rahul Sharma are rank newcomers.
Meanwhile, the tourists can derive positives from their series victory in Bangladesh.
In the second and final Test in Dhaka, Kirk Edwards scored a century in the first innings and 86 in the second, Darren Bravo almost reached within the breathing space of maiden double century
and promising leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo claimed a first five-wicket haul.
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said the team is high on confidence after that win and are suitably warmed-up to subcontinental conditions.
"Over the last six to 12 months our fast bowlers, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy have done well and won us matches," Gibson said. "We know that India obviously will be heavy on spin but we believe in the quality of our fast bowlers."
"We have Fidel bowling quick at the moment and we hope we can cause some problems to the formidable Indian batting line-up.
"We believe that we have the quality to back ourselves. We know that the ball doesn't swing very long. You need to have added skills and we pay a lot of attention to that. We are skilled enough to
reverse it and get wickets as well," he added.
Skipper Darren Sammy also promised a "fearless" display in the series, which he labelled his team's biggest challenge to date.
Barring Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, none of the 13 other West Indies cricketers have played a test match in India and Sammy seemed fully aware of the task ahead.
"This is the biggest series for most of the guys here. Playing cricket in India is indescribable. The way cricket is held here, it's like religion. This by far is the biggest test for us, for me as the captain as well," said Sammy.
PITCH
This is just as big a test for Feroz Shah Kotla.
This is only the third first-class match, and the first Test Delhi is hosting after the abandonment of an ODI in 2009-10.
The re-laid pitch has been slow, low and lifeless for List A cricket.
In one of the two first-class games, it retained its Ranji reputation of early life when Gujarat were bowled out for 71 on the first morning, but neither of the matches produced a result. It is
hoped that the new Kotla will break away from the trend, especially considering November mornings are smoggy here, which could lead to loss of some play.
Squads:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant
Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran
Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.
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