India faces resurgent West Indies in crucial clash

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It will be a battle of Indian batting and West Indian bowling when the two teams meet in a crucial Champions Trophy Group B match at the Oval in London on Tuesday.
As both the teams have registered wins in their opening matches, another victory by either team will take them a step closer to the semis and help them breathe easy. Also, it’s important to win the match by a big margin because in the possibility of three teams ending with two wins each, the net run rate will be the deciding factor.
Coming to the Indian batting, it’s been a delight to see how well they have fared on the bouncy and fast pitches of England. Indian batting has registered three 300-plus scores in three matches (including two warm-ups) they have played in England.
Indian batsmen have racked up four centuries. They have beaten Sri Lanka, Australia (in warm-ups) and South Africa comprehensively, thanks to their depth in batting. Indian batting line-up, without Sehwag, Gambhir and Tendulkar, has relished the challenged on playing in England and done the team proud, albeit at the moment.
Dinesh Karthik scored two hundreds in warm-up, while Shikhar Dhawan smashed his maiden ODI ton against South Africa. Rohit Sharma came good as an opener and Dhoni, the best finisher of the game currently, would like to persist with him. Virat Kohli has always been a match-winner and Suresh Raina has stepped up whenever others have failed.
Indian batting will be up against West Indian bowling that boasts of pacers Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Tino Best and not to forget IPL 2013 'Purple Cap' holder Dwayne Bravo, who will relish bowling on fast, bouncy pitches of England. And Sunil Narine will always be a threat on  not-so-assisting wickets of England because of the huge variations in his armoury.
With most West Indian having recently turned up for IPL 2013, they will have a few tricks up their sleeves to counter India batsmen. Bravo is teammate of Raina and Dhoni, who captains Chennai Super Kings, while Pollard plays for Mumbai Indians, which was captained by Rohit Sharma in the latest edition.
There are also certain other on-field battles to look forward to – Indian bowling against Chris Gayle, who struck 175 not out in the recently concluded IPL. The inexperienced Indian bowling has done well too. But facing hard-hitting batsmen such as Gayle, Marlon Samuels, and Kieron Pollard, they might crumble. That’s a weak area where Dhoni might have to pay extra care.
Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar are still new to international cricket. Ishant Sharma hasn’t proved to be the strike bowler despite being playing in international cricket for five years. Indian spinners will be used more as a containing option with Raina or even Rohit Sharma might be asked to roll his arms.
In terms of statistics, West Indies holds a 2-1 win-loss record against India in the Champions Trophy. However, both wins by West Indies had come on sub-continental wickets, while India posted its lone win in Johannesburg in 2009. The match beings at 3 pm (IST). 
Squads(from):
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
 The West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (c), Denesh Ramdin, Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith.