CT: Bhuvi strikes to dismiss Gayle early

NEW DELHI: Bhuvneshwar Kumar dealt a major blow to West Indies when he proved instrumental in dismissing the dangerous Chris Gayle in their Group B Champions Trophy match at The Oval on Tuesday.

Scorecard

Bhuvneshwar's short length ball completely bamboozled Gayle (21) as it forced the West Indian to get thick edge straight to R Ashwin in the slips.

Earlier, Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl saying that it's overcast and they are looking to exploit the conditions. He informed that they have gone unchanged.

Windies skipper Dwayne Bravo said that they would have bowled first too and added that they would look to forget the conditions and look to bat well and put up a good total. He informed that Denesh Ramdin is out and Darren Sammy replaced him. Johnson Charles will keep the wickets.

It's a bit overcast at The Oval and there is a tinge of green grass on the surface. It's going to be a two paced pitch. Not going to be a good time for the batsmen. According to Sunil Gavaskar, expect a low scoring affair.

Both the teams have won their opening group matches in contrasting fashion, and know very well that a win will almost guarantee a spot in the last four stage of the tournament.

India look stronger on paper and their batting looks in awesome form with three back-to-back 300-plus scores in conditions where the ball has done a bit early in the innings.

But application and pitch occupation will be crucial. India's opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma blunted South Africa's pace attack with a match-winning 127-run stand in the tournament's opening game in Cardiff.

On the other hand, in spite of their enormous potential, the West Indies remain a fickle lot.

The fact that they left out Test captain and all-rounder Darren Sammy from the playing XI against Pakistan in the opening game reflected the team's depth and confidence, but the batting frailties surfaced as the Caribbeans escaped with a two-wicket victory while chasing a modest 170 against Pakistan.

West Indies have the experience and the talent to give the Indians a run for their money.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (Capt.), Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul.

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Shweta Pandey

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