Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is treated by his team physiotherapist after
injuring himself at the Sabina Park stadium in Kingston on Sunday.
AFP/Kingston
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ruled out of the remainder of the Tri-Nation Series with a right hamstring strain sustained while batting against the West Indies in his team’s first match of the tournament on Sunday at Sabina Park.
His place in the 15-man squad is to be taken by the uncapped 27-year-old batsman Ambati Rayudu.
Vice-captain Virat Kohli, who led the team on the field in Dhoni’s absence against the West Indies, takes over as captain for the remainder of the series.
India face Sri Lanka today in Kingston with both teams looking for their first points after each lost to the hosts in their respective opening fixtures.
Following that encounter, the tournament shifts to the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, for the remaining three preliminary matches at the final, starting with India against the West Indies on Friday.
With the West Indies completing contrasting victories over the other two teams and already on their way to Trinidad and Tobago, where the last three group matches and the final will be played from Friday, this duel of sub-continental neighbours almost has the feel of an eliminator.
While defeat for either side will not rule them out completely from making the final on July 11 at Queen’s Park Oval, it will leave them having to win their two remaining matches in Port of Spain, a venue where the weather is notoriously fickle at this time of the year.
Dhoni’s calm control of proceedings on the field were missed as much as his wicketkeeping on Sunday, yet stand-in captain Virat Kohli ensured that the undisputed kings of One-Day International cricket made the home side battle all the way towards a modest target of 230, winning by just one wicket.
“We aren’t too disappointed,” Kohli stated after that match.
“Just one wicket made the difference in the end so it could have gone either way. We fought really hard.”
While the weather at the start of the hurricane season in the Caribbean has so far been kind to the competition in Jamaica, both captains will be keen to win the toss.
That way they can give their bowlers first use of a pitch that has made run-scoring difficult in the first half of the day, only to flatten out in the afternoon, based on the evidence of the first two matches, in which the visiting captains called incorrectly and then struggled to build any sort of momentum at the crease.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews gave his side’s innings some respectability with an unbeaten top score of 55 in the losing effort on Friday.
