Despite missing several star players, including Sachin Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India will pose a tough challenge in the limited overs series starting at the Queen's Park Oval here on Saturday, said West Indies coach Ottis Gibson.
Published: Jun 03, 2011, 06:50 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 03, 2011, 06:50 PM (IST)
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson feels batsmen need to be more consistent © AFP
Port-of-Spain (Trinidad): Jun 3, 2011
Despite missing several star players, including Sachin Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India will pose a tough challenge in the limited overs series starting at the Queen’s Park Oval here on Saturday, said West Indies coach Ottis Gibson.
“We had mixed results against Pakistan but we expect a tougher challenge from India, especially as they are the world champions. They would not be coming here as any push-overs, we’ve got to take the fight to them and ensure we come out victorious,” Gibson said.
In the absence of regular skipper Dhoni, Suresh Raina has been named captain for the T20 and one-day series.
The team is without eight players from the victorious World Cup squad.
While Dhoni along with Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have been rested, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh are down with injuries. Leg spinner Piyush Chawla and fast bowler S Sreesath were not considered for selection.
Gibson informed that captain Darren Sammy, who took little part in practice session, is still overcoming a lower back injury and is doubtful for the T20 game.
The former pacer acknowledged that the West Indian batsmen need to be more consistent.
“I know some of the batsmen have been making good strides in the nets with (batting coach) Desmond Haynes but it’s only when they go out in the middle that they have to produce the goods,” Gibson said.
Talking about the current squad, he said, “We are trying to blend the younger players with the established ones and we hope to see the fruits of that labour in the coming months.”
© AFP
