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Match facts

Tuesday, November 29
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)Virender Sehwag and Duncan Fletcher have to guide a relatively youthful Indian side•AFP

Big Picture

India’s previous home one-dayer took place in front of a sparse crowd at the Eden Gardens, reinforcing fears over the quantity of cricket being played, but with Tuesday’s match taking place at the smaller cricketing centre of Cuttack, a jam-packed stadium is expected. Even though the the biggest crowd-pullers like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar are missing, tickets sales at the Barabati Stadium have been brisk, and even the practice sessions drew plenty of spectators.A full-strength India would be expected to roll over West Indies at home, but they are missing at least four of their headliners. In addition, they have lost the most experienced bowler in their squad, Praveen Kumar – he was ruled out of the first three one-dayers with an injury. That means the most seasoned of the quicks is Vinay Kumar, all of 11 one-dayers old, giving the stand-in captain Virender Sehwag something of a challenge.India are also missing two of their finishers, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, giving the likes of Rohit Sharma an audition for a permanent place in the hugely competitive middle order.Despite India facing these hurdles, Darren Sammy has no illusions of the task ahead of his team, calling the series a “very, very tough challenge”. Australia are the only team to have won a one-day series in India since April 2005. West Indies are boosted by the arrival of Kieron Pollard, an impact player who can quickly transform matches, and Lendl Simmons, their most consistent one-day batsman of the year. Sunil Narine, the unconventional Trinidad & Tobago offspinner whose variations mystified batsmen in the Champions League T20, could also pose problems in his first outing in international cricket.

Form guide

India WWWWW (Most recent first)
West Indies LWWWW

Watch out for…

Kieron Pollard has long had an uneasy relationship with the West Indies board, and despite his superstar status in the Twenty20 format, West Indies don’t consider him for selection. That leaves the one-day format as his only platform for international cricket. And, worryingly for him, if there’s one thing West Indies cricket have in abundance, it’s medium-pace bowling, big-hitting allrounders. Darren Sammy is, obviously, an automatic pick, Andre Russell has displayed his talent this year, and Dwayne Bravo could also be a contender as and when fit.Ravindra Jadeja was a deeply unpopular figure towards the end of 2010, but has won over some of the critics with his performances in the home-and-away series against England. Two Man of the Match awards and a bagful of wickets have secured his place in the XI for the current series, but he needs to extend that run. If Yuvraj Singh returns for the Australia tour, India could be tempted to go back to their World Cup-winning formula of seven-batsmen and four-bowlers, which could squeeze Jadeja out of the XI.

Pitch and conditions

The last time these two teams faced off at the Barabati Stadium was nearly five years ago, when India managed to defend 189. This time, though, it is expected to be a high-scoring match, as most ODIs in India usually are. “There will be plenty of runs for the batsmen,” the curator Pankaj Patnaik said. “I am not ruling out a total of 300. Bowlers will get good bounce and there will be a little turn for spinners.” Dew is expected to play a role, though a chemical spray will be regularly used to reduce its impact.

Team news

The absence of Dhoni means Parthiv Patel will have to be picked, dimming the chances of Ajinkya Rahane getting a game early in the series. Rohit Sharma, returning after a finger injury sidelined him during the England tour, is likely to get the nod ahead of Manoj Tiwary for a place in the middle order. The injury to Praveen could allow India play both their rookie quick bowlers, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Vinay Kumar, 10 Varun Aaron , 11 Umesh YadavWest Indies (probable) 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Sunil Narine

Stats and trivia

• India have won their previous nine one-dayers at home. Their last defeat was against South Africa in the league phase of the World Cup.
• West Indies are tied with Australia as the team with the most ODI wins over India in India.
• Lendl Simmons has one hundred and seven half-centuries in 12 one-day innings in 2011.

Quotes

“Fitness-wise, we are stronger as a team. The batsmen are showing signs that they can bat for long periods. Most of all, we are showing a fighting spirit.”

“They are very good bowlers, youngsters who need to learn a lot. They are on the right track, and with coach Eric Simons they are doing a great job.”

Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand left-arm spinner, has said he enjoyed playing his first Test since resigning from the captaincy after the 2011 World Cup. Vettori has also retired from ODIs and Twenty20 internationals, so he joined the squad in Zimbabwe after the limited-over series. He took eight wickets in New Zealand’s 34-run win in Bulawayo and said missing the one-dayers may have had a role in his performance.”The reason I made the decision [to quit limited-overs cricket] was to spend a little bit more time at home and hopefully freshen up my bowling,” Vettori told . “I came into this series feeling pretty fresh, and a two-day warm-up game is enough to get ready for a Test match. Sometimes it’s a good thing if batsmen haven’t seen you for a while and you haven’t played the one-day series, so hopefully that played a part in my performance as well.”Not being captain takes a bit of stress off my performance, with the fact that I can just worry about myself and hopefully help out some of the younger guys.”Ross Taylor was appointed Vettori’s successor and Vettori said he was impressed with Taylor’s captaincy during the Test. “Ross understands my game and how to use me. I’ve enjoyed stepping back and just helping him out rather than having to be the driving force in most situations. He did things that I wouldn’t have done and they really worked well – the Guptill wicket [part-time offspinner Martin Guptill dismissed Tino Mawoyo on the fifth day] I thought was fantastic.”Zimbabwe came very close to chasing down the 366-run target in Bulawayo thanks to a century from their captain Brendan Taylor. Only a late collapse of six wickets for 44 runs denied them victory. Vettori said he was not surprised by the fight that Zimbabwe, who only recently returned to playing Tests, put up, particularly because he knew Brendan Taylor was in supreme form.”We knew we would have a tough time getting through their top order, particularly with [Brendan] Taylor there. We saw how well he played in the one-day series and the innings that he played [in Bulawayo] would rival any innings that the best batsmen in the world could play. We realised what a special innings it was, and that’s what put us on the back foot. There aren’t that many guys in world cricket who can play that well, and it took that sort of innings to take the wind out of our sails early on, but fortunately we hung in there and produced when it counted.”Zimbabwe’s decision to go for the runs rather than play for a draw made for an intriguing final day and Vettori said it had been a great Test thanks to Zimbabwe’s attacking attitude. “They kept having a go which put us under pressure but in some ways it probably opened the door for us as well. I think if they’d shut up shop early on that wicket it would have been difficult for us to get wickets, but good on them for trying. I think everyone would have sat back and said that this was a great Test match; for it to go into the final six overs, people want to see those sorts of Tests. “You could see the crowd develop over the day thinking there was a victory in the offing for Zimbabwe, but I think they’ll go home saying it was a really good Test match”

Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman, has urged his team to put aside the injury-enforced departure of AB de Villiers and get their Champions League T20 campaign on track after the opening defeat to Warriors.”Every game is important when you only have four games,” Kohli said on Wednesday. “Tomorrow’s game (against Kolkata Knight Riders) is important, AB not being in the team is a huge loss. I’ll probably have to take more responsibility now, we should just take it as a challenge.”The Knight Riders are staring elimination after defeats in their first two matches, but Kohli expected a tough match on Thursday. “I was surprised KKR lost two games in a row, they are a full-strength side when all the players are fit and in form,” he said. “They are an explosive side, if you let them go they can hurt you badly. It will be important to put them under pressure from ball one.”The Royal Challengers were in charge of their opening encounter against Warriors before a late surge gave the South African side a last-ball victory. Kohli said the team had learnt from that defeat. “In a T20 game, unless a team needs 15 or 16 runs an over in the end, you haven’t really won the game, and the key is to not get relaxed,” he said. “One or two 15-run overs can turn the game. The Warriors did that against us, we were cruising till 10 overs of the chase, a few good overs here and there cost us the game. They batted really well, Johan Botha came and smashed a few, Ashwell Prince batted well, and in the end Nicky Boje and Wayne Parnell contributed, so you never know who’s going to do what in a T20, so you can never relax.”The senior bowlers Daniel Vettori and Dirk Nannes bowled out early against Warriors, leaving the inexperienced local pair of Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind to deal with the pressure of bowling the final two overs. Kohli said the Royal Challengers didn’t have designated death-overs specialists. “Unless you have someone like [Lasith] Malinga in the side you can never rely on anyone bowling the death overs, you can’t pre-plan it,” he said. “So I guess we just go with the situation of the game, I think Aravind bowled a brilliant last over, just one slower ball that fell short, other than that he bowled a brilliant last over.”With a majority of the games in the CLT20 going into the final over, Kohli said the close defeat had some positives as well. “It’s all about learning, all these bowlers if they become experienced in the last overs, and if they come out successful in those, that will really help in high-pressure games going forward.”

The Pakistan team have made no secret of their desire to visit Victoria Falls during their tour of Zimbabwe. They have also mentioned that they are unsure when they would be able to fit the six-hour road journey from Bulawayo into their tight schedule.Had they obliterated Zimbabwe’s lower order in the same way as they the top and middle orders, and knocked off the small target they would have been set, Pakistan could have used Monday for sightseeing. Instead, they will return to Queens Sports Club facing a deficit of 81 runs and with two Zimbabwe wickets still to dislodge.”We got a little bit frustrated in the middle session and gave away a few too many runs,” Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach said. “But, the game is still very much in our favour at the moment. We have to come back and make sure they don’t get too many more and try to get those runs as soon as possible.”Pakistan have not won consecutive Tests since 2005 but look likely to record a second successive win, having beaten the West Indies in their last Test in May. They showed their intent in taking control of the match in the first session, when they scored 103 runs at a slightly higher rate than they had managed throughout the third day. Younis Khan was more purposeful in his strokeplay and Adnan Akmal was enterprising in making 36 off 45 balls. “We knew that if we got a decent lead, we would have a fair chance of getting them out cheaply,” Waqar said. Saeed Ajmal contributed 28 but the lower order was skittled quickly after lunch, resulting in a lead of only 54 runs.However, Pakistan made that slim advantage count and snaffled five second innings wickets before Zimbabwe had wiped out their lead. “I think it was the pressure we put on them,” Waqar said. “The bowlers bowled really well and we didn’t give them a chance to get settled and so a lot of them played rash shots.”The bulk of that pressure was created by Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez, but Waqar added that the role of Akmal, the wicketkeeper, should not be ignored. “In the first innings he wasn’t really up to the mark, but in the second innings he knew what he needed to do and he kept really well,” Waqar said.Despite Pakistan’s success in the field today, there has been some concern over the course of the match about their inexperienced fast bowlers. “It was difficult to come into the Test match, with only one Test between the three [Aizaz Cheema, Sohail Khan and Junaid Khan] and with none of them having taken a wicket in Tests,” Waqar said. “Aizaz Cheema really bowled with some fire and aggression, he was pretty good and you can see that he has some future for Pakistan.”The two Khans, Junaid and Sohail received less praise from the coach, who indicated that they some way to go before they will able to challenge the likes of Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz for regular spots in the team. “Junaid has been part of the team for the last eight months. He also played for Lancashire and he did well there but is on a learning curve. He is good one day bowler but he still a lot to learn when it comes to the longer version. “Sohail Khan has got to work on his fitness.”Despite his criticisms of Sohail and Junaid, Waqar said he had “no regrets” about leaving out Sohail Tanvir, the left-arm fast bowler, saying he thought the three bowlers who played had “done a wonderful job”.However, Waqar will not be around to help with the development of the trio because this is his last series as coach. He announced before the tour of Zimbabwe that he would be stepping down for personal reasons after 18 months as coach and said he was pleased with the way his tenure had panned out. “It has been very satisfying. We’ve beaten New Zealand in New Zealand, West Indies in West Indies and we drew against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates. We’ve got a young team, who have played fairly well, so overall I am happy with the progress they have made.”While his future plans are not immediately clear, Waqar hopes to remain in cricket, probably as a commentator.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAndrew Strauss and Alastair Cook batted throughout the morning session before rain arrived•Getty Images

Given the way England have dominated this series it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that the only thing that will stop them completing a whitewash is the weather. Rain wiped out play after lunch on the opening day at The Oval, but during the two hours possible Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook formed a solid platform against a very disappointing India attack as England reached 75 without loss.This was as poorly as India had bowled all series as they wasted whatever help was on offer under overcast skies. There was barely a chance created during the session and the whole attitude portrayed by the visitors was of a team low on confidence and waiting for the series to finish. Defeat here will leave them third in the world rankings but it’s difficult to see them limiting England’s in-form batting line-up with a better forecast for Friday.RP Singh, on his return to the Test team after a three-year absence for the injured Praveen Kumar, didn’t set a good tone with his opening over. The first ball was sprayed down the leg side and the batsmen were offered some gentle leg-stump deliveries to open their accounts. He was also about the same pace as Praveen, but with less swing, which wasn’t entirely surprising considering he hadn’t played first-class cricket since January.Although a couple of early boundaries came to third man they were played with soft hands by Strauss and Cook. There was an alarming lack of intensity from India, both with the ball and in the field, as they failed to make any use of the overcast conditions. Sreesanth’s first spell was poor with too many deliveries on leg stump which ensured the scoreboard kept ticking over with Cook, for the time being at least, taking his average over 50.India showed slightly more energy during the second hour – although everything is relative – and Strauss had his most uncomfortable moment when he was struck on the helmet by an Ishant Sharma bouncer that took a chunk out of the lid. From that moment Strauss was more reluctant to get forward, but was still able to play a beautiful off drive against Sreesanth.Ishant remained the pick of the three quicks, probing away outside off and finding a touch of troubling bounce, but there were few alarms for the openers. Even with two left-handers at the crease it was a surprise when Suresh Raina’s part-time offspin was used ahead of Amit Mishra who removed Strauss at Edgbaston.Earlier, James Anderson had been passed fit to take his place in the England side as they remained unchanged. A thigh niggle had created doubts about his fitness, but he came through a net on Wednesday so Graham Onions or Steven Finn, who left to play for Middlesex against Kent, were not required. On the evidence of the first session, and with the impact of the weather, Anderson might not be needed until well into the weekend.

The former Glamorgan allrounder, Allan Watkins, died in hospital in Kidderminster on Wednesday afternoon at the age of 89, following a short illness. In 15 Tests for England between 1948 and 1952, he became the first Glamorgan player to score a Test hundred and the first to appear in an Ashes Test.His debut, at The Oval in 1948, was torrid, as he made 0 and 7 in two innings, and was unable to bowl more than four overs after being hit on the shoulder by Ray Lindwall. However, it was the match in which Don Bradman was bowled for a duck in his final Test innings, and Watkins was the last player to field a ball from him. He collected Bradman’s first-ball defensive push and returned to the bowler Eric Hollies, who subsequently delivered the googly that stranded Bradman’s career average on 99.94.Watkins’ personal zenith came the following winter in Johannesburg, where he scored 111 in a three-and-a-quarter-hour innings against South Africa in February 1949. He struck 15 fours in his stay, and later marked the feat by naming his home “Ellis Park” in honour of the venue. He added a second hundred against India in Delhi three years later, against whom he also returned his best Test bowling figures of 3 for 20.Born in Usk in Monmouthshire, Watkins’ first-class career began in 1939, five years after his home county had merged with Glamorgan. The onset of the second world war delayed his development, but he scored his maiden century against Surrey at Cardiff Arms Park in 1946, having been released from training that day by Plymouth Argyle, for whom he performed as a winger.His allround sporting ability extended to his bowling repertoire, and he was a key figure of the Glamorgan team that, in 1948, won the County Championship for the very first time. In 407 appearances for Glamorgan, he scored 17,419 runs and took 774 wickets, passing 1000 runs in every season bar one from 1947 to 1960, and claiming 50 or more wickets eight times between 1949 and 1956.The summer of 1954 was his best in Glamorgan colours. At Swansea, he made a career-best 170 not out against Leicestershire, and followed that with his best bowling of 7 for 28 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, which included a remarkable spell of four wickets in five balls. He finished the season with more than 1,000 first-class runs and 100 wickets, and emulated the feat in 1955.Watkins retired from first-class cricket in 1962, and embarked on a four-decade coaching career at Oundle School.

ScorecardAndrew Strauss endured another unproductive day at Uxbridge as Middlesex’s County Championship Division Two match against Gloucestershire ended in a dull draw. Strauss finished the game as he had started it, fielding at first slip and failing to hold onto any catch that came his way, as Gloucestershire opted not to try to manufacture a result on the final day despite winning themselves a 134-run lead by wrapping up the Middlesex firstinnings for 325 inside the first hour.Gloucestershire, to the displeasure of a sparse crowd, then opted to bat through to the close at 229 for 8, refusing to set Middlesex a target and – more realistically – giving themselves an outside chance of a win which would have catapulted them above their opponents and into second place in Division Two.Strauss missed two catches in Gloucestershire’s first innings, with the declaration not coming until the third morning because of a weather-hit second day in which just 10.1 overs were bowled. He then scored only two before being trapped leg before wicket by Jon Lewis – and that became Strauss’ only innings of the match due to Gloucestershire’sultra-conservative approach.Needing time at the crease in a bid to recapture some batting form ahead of the Test series against India, which starts on July 21, Strauss will now have two weeks without any cricket before guesting for Somerset in their three-day tourist fixture against the Indians at Taunton, starting on July 15.Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, confirmed that Strauss has no plans to play any club cricket in the next fortnight. Middlesex second XI, meanwhile, have no scheduled matches in this period.Middlesex required 27 runs to avoid the follow-on when they resumed on 283 for 7 and, despite the early loss of Tim Murtagh who fell lbw to Lewis for seven, a ninth-wicket stand of 39 between Chris Rogers and Anthony Ireland ensured the hosts would not be asked to bat again.Rogers was eventually bowled middle stump by David Payne for 148, made in just over six hours at the crease and featuring two sixes and 17 fours from 263 balls, and Payne then yorked Ireland (16) to uproot his off stump.Murtagh sent back Hamish Marshall (9), with a smart low catch in his follow-through, Chris Dent (19) and Chris Taylor (8) in an excellent new-ball spell, and when Steven Crook bowled first-innings centurion Ian Cockbain for eight the Gloucestershire second innings was wobbling a little on 65 for 4.Strauss, however, put down a relatively straightforward waist-high chance when Richard Coughtrie was on nought, off Crook. That would have left Gloucestershire on 75 for 5 but, instead, Coughtrie scored 40 and stayed with Kane Williamson, who made a fine 73 from 98 balls, to add 94 for the fifth wicket.The match drifted to the draw after tea, which Gloucestershire took 331 runs ahead at 197 for 6, with Strauss given one over of his left-arm slow-medium to relieve the boredom.

A lack of consistency cost England the right to push for victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka, according their captain Andrew Strauss, after five hard-fought days petered out into a draw on a docile wicket at Lord’s.Given England’s recent run of form in Test cricket – which includes four innings victories in their last six matches, including a remarkable last-session triumph in Cardiff last week – Strauss admitted to a certain amount of frustration that they were unable to close out the Sri Lanka series with a game to spare. However, he conceded that at critical moments, his team lacked the spark and penetration of previous contests, adding that by the final afternoon of the match, they had “run their race”.”We didn’t expect them to fold quite as they did at Cardiff, and they didn’t on a flat wicket,” said Strauss. “Over the last 18 months we’ve prided ourselves on just how consistent we have been as a bowling line-up. But the guys are not machines, and sometimes the rhythm’s not there – and it’s hard work.”England’s realistic hopes of a result were thwarted on the second afternoon, when Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana responded to their team’s 82 all out capitulation in Cardiff with an opening stand of 207. In that period, and again on the third morning, England’s seamers were as off-colour as at any stage in the past 18 months, with the bowling coach, David Saker, describing the number of balls down the leg-side as “inexcusable”.”We’re not going to play the perfect Test match every time – we’ve got to be realistic about that – but the most important thing is we don’t make the same mistake twice,” said Strauss. “I was very happy with the way the guys came back and improved as the game went on, although it is always frustrating when a Test match ends in a draw, because you’ve put in a lot of hard work for five days.”The pick of England’s attack, in terms of wickets, was the 22-year-old Steven Finn, who fought back from a wayward start to claim 4 for 108, and in the process became the youngest England bowler to 50 Test wickets. Despite that acclaim, however, his career economy-rate is close to 4 an over, and with James Anderson on the mend following a side strain in Cardiff, he could find himself back on the sidelines at the Rose Bowl.”I think Steven Finn got a lot better as the game went on,” said Strauss. “He’d been out of the side a little bit, so I suppose he had every right to feel a bit anxious at the start. But all our bowlers bring something different, and certainly Jimmy does with his consistent lines and swinging it a bit more than the others. We are very hopeful he’ll be fit.”It would certainly be a surprise if the man to make way was Stuart Broad, whose recent appointment as England Twenty20 captain was an acknowledgement of his senior status within the England squad. Nevertheless, his record in red-ball cricket is becoming something of a concern, with his two wickets at Lord’s costing 154 and coming at 3.75 an over. After 36 Tests, he still averages an unworthy 35.97.Though Strauss defended his team-mate, he didn’t deny there were concerns. “I don’t think he’s quite getting the rub of the green at the moment,” he said. “He’s bowled some very good balls that are passing the edge, and has probably bowled better than the statistics say. But all of us have to keep trying to improve, and make sure our performances get better.”That goes for the batsmen as well, not least Strauss himself, who made scores of 4 and 0 in his two innings and was nailed on both occasions by the left-arm seam of Chanaka Welegedara. He has now fallen to that style of bowling 22 times in his career, and nine in the past 12 months. With the excellent Zaheer Khan set to lead the attack for India later in the summer, Strauss knows he can’t afford to let the problem spread.”I was obviously frustrated to miss out twice on a good batting surface,” he said. “But I think to some extent that’s the nature of the beast as an opening batsman … sometimes you get a couple of good ones early. But I obviously need to keep working and make sure it doesn’t happen again at the Rose Bowl.”The final-day positives for England included the form of Ian Bell, whose 40-ball half-century on the final afternoon was the most fluent innings of the match, and an impressive display from Kevin Pietersen, who fell once again to a left-arm spinner, but not before he’d racked up a dominant 72. Given that he had started his innings in a no-win situation late on the fourth day, it was a satisfactory upshot in his quest for his former glories.”It wasn’t an easy situation when he went in yesterday, with dark cloud cover and the lights on,” said Strauss. “Lord’s does a lot more in those conditions, so he did have to graft pretty hard then. But he did that outstandingly well and then obviously came out the other side and played some lovely shots today. We always knew he was going to score runs at some stage, and we hope this is the catalyst to go and have a purple patch like Alastair Cook’s having.”There was some criticism of England’s intent as they built towards their eventual declaration total of 335 for 7, and by the end of the innings, the on-field events had been overshadowed by Matt Prior’s run-in with the dressing-room window. Nevertheless, Strauss felt they could not have done much more to force the game.”It was a bit tricky prior to lunch when the left-armer was bowling over the wicket into the rough – it was a bit hard to keep the momentum going, and we lost a little bit there,” he said. “But we still scored at more than four an over, but I think it was always going to be a little bit hard to force a result on the final day here – because we know the Lord’s wicket doesn’t deteriorate.”I just told them what I wanted us to get, and how many overs we had to get it – and we needed to bat pretty quickly. But there are always things in a Test match we could have done better. We hope we do that at the Rose Bowl.”

Five days ago, Virender Sehwag had come up against a pitch in Kochi that was keeping so low that batsmen were being dismissed boot before wicket. Sehwag responded with 80 off 47 deliveries, when survival was a lottery for others. Five days later, Sehwag came up against his own team-mates in Hyderabad. His fielders forgot to hold catches. His bowlers chose no-balls to take wickets. His batsmen took turns at pressing the self-destruct button. Sehwag responded with 119 off 56, when it would have been easy to throw it away with a shot in anger and frustration.Delhi Daredevils needed 144 from 13 overs. They won with an over to spare, and the margin would have been wider had Sehwag not been dismissed in the 17th over. Twice in three games, Sehwag has shown that he is to Delhi what Sachin Tendulkar was to India for a large part of his career. The show begins and ends with Sehwag. The man knows it, and is candid enough to acknowledge that he is special. “Batsmen like Warner, or me, or Gilchrist or Tendulkar, can do anything if we play for so many overs,” Sehwag said. “I told my boys, just play fearless cricket.”Fearlessness is one of the foundations of Sehwag’s batting. Discretion, however, is not a measure that he applies in abundance, especially in the shorter formats of the game. When both virtues combine, his batting scales another level. On such days, his targeting of the weak links in the opposition bowling attack is almost predictable. Inevitably, Ishan Malhotra and Bharat Chipli disappeared for 43 in two overs.On such days, he also realises that the contest between him and the cream of the opposition attack need not be a gladiatorial showdown. Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma were given the respect they deserved on a bouncy pitch, though Sehwag still managed four boundaries off them.Spin and Sehwag have a tempestuous relationship. It brings the best and worst out of him. Predictably, Amit Mishra was taken for 37 in 14 deliveries. Predictably, the two dropped catches also came off Mishra.”I was telling myself that just play through the spell of Steyn and Ishant. They don’t have a fifth bowler and I have played Amit Mishra a lot in the nets,” Sehwag said. “I knew I could come hard at them. I just thought let me play my shots and if we can get momentum, we can do this.”Despite their indifferent performance, Sehwag did not think it was correct to blame his team-mates for not pulling their weight. “We have played ten games, and I have clicked only in three. So I have not been consistent, and I can’t really blame the others. I have more responsibility. The others are not that experienced; only Venugopal Rao is a bit experienced. They will take time; it takes time to build a good team.”Even as Delhi’s campaign has now come down to them needing a win almost every time they step out on to the field, Sehwag has carried his heavy responsibility as lightly as only he can. In five days, he has overcome a minefield on one occasion and on another a team that seemed intent on scoring own goals. Today, he scored 102 more runs than his side’s next-highest scorer in the game, James Hopes. “That’s the kind of player he is mate,” Hopes said. “He is as good as it gets in world cricket.”

Moeen Ali, the Worcestershire batsman, has signed a new contract that will keep him at New Road until the end of the 2013 season.Mooen, 23, scored 1,260 first-class runs last season having moved from Warwickshire in 2006.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and have been looked after very well,” said Moeen.”I am grateful for the opportunities I have had and I hope to progress further over the coming years.”Moeen was part of the Worcestershire side that won promotion back to County Championship Division One last summer.”Moeen played exceptionally well during 2010 and played a major part in our four-day promotion push,” said director of cricket Steve Rhodes.”The development of younger players is paramount to our future and I am delighted to have a talented all-round cricketer, such as Moeen, commit his future to the club.”