October 09
India bent on ruining Hooper's party in searing heat

MUMBAI: West Indies captain Carl Hooper talks to the chairman of the selection panel, Vivian Richards, during a training session on Tuesday. India take on the West Indies in the first Test starting today

MUMBAI: India go into the opening Test against the West Indies here on Wednesday (today), keen to spoil a memorable moment in the career of rival skipper Carl Hooper. Hooper will become only the sixth West Indian after Courtney Walsh, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge to figure in 100 Tests when he turns up for toss with Sourav Ganguly at the Wankhede Stadium.

"It's an important milestone. It's nice to reach the mark, but I'm not fond of figures. Let's hope we do well here," said the 35-year-old, who made his Test debut at this venue in 1987-88.

The veteran Guyanese has so far scored 5,638 runs with 13 centuries. The match is also being billed as something special for Indian batting genius Sachin Tendulkar even though he has already completed a century of Tests, against England at The Oval last month. Officials are still treating the local hero's 101st Test here as a milestone, planning to organise functions to honour him.

"We have been playing competitive cricket in recent months and hope to continue the good work," said Indian skipper Ganguly whose team came from behind to draw a tough four-Test series in England 1-1.

The Indian captain was a bit worried over the hot and humid conditions and the newly-laid pitch. "I've never experienced so much heat here. It's really surprising. The track has a little bit of grass on it and I hope it has something for both batsmen and bowlers." The West Indies are in search of saviours in the absence of batting star Brian Lara, who flew back home after falling ill midway through the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka last month. 

Lara was not a prolific scorer against India in a five-Test series at home in May as he could manage just 202 in seven innings, but his non-availability for away Tests still gives the opposition a big psychological advantage.

"It's a big blow," conceded Hooper. "It's just like India missing Tendulkar in the middle-order. But his absence also gives an opportunity to youngsters to cement their places."

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Wavell Hinds were among runs in their team's 2-1 series victory over the Indians at home, but are no proven match-winners abroad.

India have always been a tough team to beat at home as they have lost just one Test series since 1987, against South Africa in 2000. The spinner-friendly tracks and crowd support have often spurred India on to exceed expectations, like they did against Steve Waugh's Australians last year with a stunning 2-1 victory in a three-Test rubber.

India will rely on the same old spin-trick to trap the West Indian batsmen on a track which is likely to favour slow bowlers as the match progresses.

India (from): Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Shiv Sunder Das, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkat Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, 
Amit Mishra.

West Indies (from): Carl Hooper (capt), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Darren Ganga, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Pedro Collins, Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Jermaine Lawson, Marlon Samuels, Gareth Breese, Darren Powell.

Umpires: David Shepherd (Eng) & Asoka de Silva (SL). 
TV umpire: Shivram. 
Match referee: Mike Proctor (SA).