It would be unwise to have Dravid keeping wickets

With the first two One-Day Internationals in Jamaica washed out, the bandwagon rolls on to Barbados, where the third game is scheduled to take place. Both games in Jamaica were to be played on a grassless pitch that would have offered no assistance to the bowlers, fast bowlers that is, for surely it would have spun as the Test strip offered turn for those capable of spinning the ball, even with it's generous quantity of live green grass.

One would hope that the Kensington Oval pitch will be of a similar nature, as I surely believe One-Day Internationals are about entertaining the crowds and although we bowlers sometimes like to think that the game is about us, any poll taken will find that the majority prefer a game of 280 versus 281 in the full 50 overs, over a game of 130 all out in 30 overs versus 131 for 9. Both games, no doubt, would be entertaining but the bat holding sway over the ball will always be preferred.

The teams arrived in Barbados on Monday afternoon, with just Tuesday for practice before the game on Wednesday, and while the Test players may not have minded the inactivity in Jamaica while the rain poured, the men brought in for the One-Day series only, would have been chomping at the bit to at least get into the nets and stretch those muscles. The team that would have suffered the most in that regard would have to be India as the West Indies only made two changes to their squad while India had about five recruits.

It will be interesting to see, with the limited practice available, how many of those new recruits India do play in this match, the first game in the now three-match series.

India, no doubt, will be going to their old, trusted and proven opening pair of the captain Sourav Ganguly and the great Sachin Tendulkar. It has worked very well for them in the Indian subcontinent and there might have been fears originally that the more bouncy pitches in the Caribbean would find out the captain, especially after his dismissal by the short ball route in the first Test in Guyana. But he seems to have put that weakness fairly and squarely behind him since then and they should form a formidable opening partnership.

There have also been indications that Rahul Dravid will be asked to keep wickets instead of a regular specialist wicketkeeper in order to strengthen the batting. It may seem a reasonable move but I don’t think it's one that's really necessary considering the inclusion of Sehwag in the squad and more than likely the final XI. With just 50 overs per side, with Ganguly, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman and the same Dravid as specialist batsmen plus hard hitting tail-enders like Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, who exhibited his hitting skills when required to do so in Barbados, a place could be found for a specialist wicketkeeper. It would be unwise to have Dravid keeping wickets and drop a batsman of the caliber of a Lara or Hooper who then ends up winning the game for the West Indies. We have already seen how costly the reprieves given to Hooper in the Test series have been.

Then we come to the psychological factor for India, of playing in Barbados. Much has been said and written about their poor record playing in the island. The captain, Ganguly, did say before the Test that it would not play on his team’s mind but the batting display in the first innings belied that statement and it's up to him and his management staff to get the team to focus purely on the job at hand.

I did say in my last article that I thought the team that batted second in these One-Dayers should be favourites, perhaps with the addition of the aforementioned factor, it's even more imperative that India win the toss and chase a target.

Earlier Columns:
- Another opportunity for Lara, Tendulkar
- India should employ a double-edged spin attack at Antigua
- Kumble should play in the rest of the Tests
- The toss will be vital
- India start favourites

- Gameplan

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