Series win beckons hosts

MUMBAI, DEC 14: Buoyed by Sunday's success at Ahmedabad, the mood in the India A camp was understandably upbeat on the eve of the limited...

MUMBAI, DEC 14: Buoyed by Sunday8217;s success at Ahmedabad, the mood in the India A camp was understandably upbeat on the eve of the limited-overs decider to be staged at the Wankhede Stadium tomorrow. The West Indies A8217;s weakness to spin was in evidence yesterday which saw them crash to their first loss of the tour.

The hosts can draw inspiration from the encouraging batting performances of left-handed duo of Sadagopan Ramesh and Amay Khurasia, the all-round abilities of skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar and the proficiency of spinners Nikhil Chopra and Gyanendra Pandey after having lost the first one-dayer at Hyderabad by 119 runs and the Test8217; series 0-2.

Coach Krishnamachari Srikkanth was hoping that the batsmen should come good if they are to win the one-day series. 8220;The wicket here looks similar to the one we played our last game on Sunday and I expect our batsmen to do well against the Windies quickies. Both Amay Khurasia and Ramesh handled the pacers, particularly their best bowler Reon King well. Ifour openers Ramesh and Gandhi can give us a good start then there is no reason why we cannot put up a big total,8221; said the former Indian opener while dwelling on his team8217;s chances.

Kanitkar, too, echoed the coach8217;s sentiments when he said that the team is doing well and expects them to pull through to win the match and series after the disappointment of losing the Test8217; series.

Despite the optimism expressed by the Indian camp, West Indies A skipper Ian Bishop wasn8217;t willing to rest on past laurels. 8220;We will go about our task in a professional manner and hopefully God will bless us,8221; he said.

The Caribbeans would once again be looking forward to the pace duo of King and Bishop to prick the Indian bubble. Pre-match indications points to a keen fare, but the Indians can gain some solace in the fact the same opposition had lost to Bangladesh 1-2 in the one-day series that preceded the Indian safari.

The teams from

West Indies A: Ian Bishop captain, Sherwin Campbell, Reon King, CarlTuckett, Pedro Collins, Richard Smith, Courtney Browne wicket-keeper, Neil McGarrell, Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Keith Semple, Wayne Phillip, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Mahendra Nagamooto.

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India A: Hrishikesh Kanitkar captain, Sadagopan Ramesh, Devang Gandhi, Nikhil Chopra, Rahul Sanghvi, Dodda Ganesh, Saba Karim wicket-keeper, Amay Khurasia, Jai Prakash Yadav, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Amit Bhandari, Gyanendra Pandey, Rohan Gavaskar and Venka Pratap.

Umpires: Madan Singh amp; Vineet Gupte both from Mumbai.