Ind vs WI: Upper hand for Dhoni & Co as Narine, Gayle out of ODI series

Kochi India will seek to reaffirm their supremacy in the shorter version of the game as they go into a fivematch ODI series against an understrength West Indies here tomorrow with the prime focus of preparing for the upcoming cricket World CupWith five series victories against the Caribbean side including three away series since 200607 under their belt India would be looking to keep their winning record intact as they start the series as clear favouritesAlso ReadMS Dhoni is handicapped by inexperienced bowlers Ravi ShastriMS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo Pic Getty ImagesThe hosts are expected to have little trouble against the lowly West Indians who are further handicapped with mystery spinner Sunil Narine being withdrawn from the tour followinghis illegal bowling action reported during the Champions League T20The Windies are also without their run machine Chris Gayle whose absence will certainly dent their chances While the threat of rain looms large over the first ODI tomorrow the fans would be hoping to see the two teams in actionThe home team will be keen to take a 10 lead at this ground where they dethroned Australia in January last year before beating the West Indians last November at the same venueThe series is crucial to Indias preparation to defend their World Cup title next year and the players will be looking to put up solid performances Mahendra Singh Dhoniled India are a well balanced side with both batsmen barring the prolonged slump of Virat Kohli and bowlers in good nickSelectors have picked Murali Vijay in place of injured Rohit Sharma but it remains to be seen whether he or Ajinkya Rahane would open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan For Virat Kohli there wont be a better opportunity to get back into form The middleorder looks strong with the likes of Suresh Raina Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni in the ranksIn the bowling department Mohit Sharma would be the one to watch out for as he has been progressing well under Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav complete the pace quartet for India with experienced Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja manning the spin department It would interesting to see if 19yearold leftarm spinner Kuldeep Yadav is picked up in the playing eleven tomorrowIn contrast the West Indians will have to play out of their skin if they want to make any impression But they would certainly take confidence from their recent win against Bangladesh At least seven out of 15 West Indian players know the Indian conditions well having played in the IPL and CLT20 and that would obviously come in handyLast November Darren Sammy made way for Dwayne Bravo as captain of the side in the first of their three match series but Bravo had a nightmarish time This time around he must be planning things differently to counter the Indians at their own backyardBravo would be pinning his hopes on experienced players like Darren Sammy Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard to come good with the bat With 98 ODI wickets against his name Jerome Taylor will be looking to reach the landmark of 100 wickets here itself Taylors return to the team has strengthened West Indian pace attack with the likes of Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul already in the lineupBut their spinning department sans Narine is a cause of concern The onus is now on leftarm spinner Sulieman Benn Narines replacement to deliver for his team