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| May 14, 2006 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1427 |
It’s time to deliver, urges Dravid
KINGSTON, May 13: Rahul Dravid has acknowledged his side still have plenty of respect for the West Indies, but believes it's time for India to dominate in the Caribbean.
The Indian captain was speaking following his team's arrival in Jamaica at the start of their two-month tour of the Caribbean.
“We respect them a lot, and I think they have a very strong batting line-up,” he told reporters on arrival.
“Any team that has players of the quality of Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, it's going to be a serious batting line-up.
“They've got some very good young fast bowlers as well. They are a very good team, and we have been watching their cricket, and we expect and are looking forward to play some good cricket against them.”
Dravid said his side is looking forward to facing West Indies in the five One-day Internationals and four Tests.
“We know it's a challenge playing in the West Indies, they are a good team, and it's always tough to come here and beat them,” he said.
“We are looking forward to it, and we are not going to worry about history.
We are just going to look at the series as a fresh one and then try and do the best we can.
“Most of our players are coming to the Caribbean for the first time. The youngsters in our side are very excited and the atmosphere is great.
“We've had some one-day success recently and we're looking for a good start in the ODI series.”
India opens their tour with a limited-overs practice match on Tuesday at Montego Bay against Jamaica.
Squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Mahendra Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa.
Itinerary:
May 16: v Jamaica (Montego Bay).
May 18: 1st ODI (Kingston).
May 20: 2nd ODI (Kingston).
May 23: 3rd ODI (Basseterre).
May 26: 4th ODI (Port-of-Spain).
May 28: 5th ODI (Port-of-Spain).
June 2-6: 1st Test (St John's).
June 10-14: 2nd Test (Gros Islet).
June 17-19: v WICB XI (Charlestown).
June 22-26: 3rd Test (Basseterre).
June 30-July 4: 4th Test (Kingston).—AFP
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