West Indies captain Christopher Gayle and India's skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni are anticipating a tough encounter in today's opening game of their four-match one-day series at Sabina Park.
"It is always a tough challenge going up against India because we have met each other over the last couple of years and it has been very competitive, both teams will be looking to stamp their authority and trying to get a good start tomorrow," said Gayle at a press conference at the Sabina Park yesterday.
Big occasion
"It's always a big occasion playing against India ... we are really looking forward to it," he said.
"The guys have been home for just a bit but we are back as a unit and we have been playing some good competitive cricket. However, this is a different version of the game and we just have to see what happens tomorrow."
Gayle added that despite the fact that the Indians are missing a number of key players, such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, they won't be taking them lightly.
"They have some good back-up players here and so it is not going to be a walkover, it is going to be tough but we are looking forward it and we just have to back ourselves to go out there and get the job done," Gayle said.
Gayle noted that despite the vast amount of cricket that they have played over the past couple of months, his players are fully prepared and raring go.
Looking to bounce back
"This is our job and our priority is to go and get things done. There might be a bit of fatigue, but our main focus is get out there in the middle and get the job done," Gayle said.
Meanwhile, Dhoni said his team will be looking to bounce back from their ICC World Cup Twenty20 Championships disappointment in which they exited at the quarter-final stage, including a defeat at the hands of the West Indies.
"It is very important for us to do well over here because the last time we were over here the one-day series was rained out but we had a very good Test series," said Dhoni.
"We have the talent and the capacity to do well out here and we hope that we can adapt to the conditions very quickly," he said.
Dhoni added that he expects the pitches to play a big part in the outcome of the series. "I think that the wickets can be on the slow side, so it won't be easy to go after the bowlers."
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI player rankings
(as of 25 June 2009)
Batsmen
| Rank | Player | Team | Points | Avg | Highest Ranking |
1 | MS Dhoni | Ind | 815 | 49.26 | 825 v NZ at Hamilton 2009 |
| 2 | S.Chanderpaul | WI | 777 | 41.60 | 793 v Eng at Guyana 2009 |
| 3 | Chris Gayle | WI | 771 | 40.11 | 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006 |
| 4 | Yuvraj Singh | Ind | 769 | 37.43 | 790 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009 |
| 5 | Mike Hussey | Aus | 767 | 54.65 | 863 v NZ at Pt Elizabeth 2009 |
| 7 | V. Sehwag | Ind | 747 | 34.32 | 774 v NZ at Auckland 2003 |
| 8 | Graeme Smith | SA | 731 | 40.39 | 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008 |
| 9 | H. Gibbs | SA | 712 | 36.37 | 750 v SL at Durban 2003 |
| 10 | Jacques Kallis | SA | 707 | 45.30 | 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004 |
| 11 | Michael Clarke | Aus | 705 | 42.50 | 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008 |
19 | R. Sarwan | WI | 667 | 43.00 | 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006 |
Bowlers Rank | Player | Team | Pts | HS Rating | |
| 1 | Nuwan Kulasekara | SL | 724 | 749 v Pak at Lahore 2009 | |
| 2 | Kyle Mills | NZ | 697 | 723 v Aus at Melbourne 2009 | |
| 3 | Muttiah Muralidaran | SL | 696 | 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002 | |
| 4 | Daniel Vettori | NZ | 694 | 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008 | |
| 5 | Shakib Al Hasan | Ban | 687! | 687 v Zim at Dhaka 2009 | |
| 6 | Nathan Bracken | Aus | 677 | 806 v SL at St George's 2007 | |
| 7 | Mitchell Johnson | Aus | 672 | 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008 | |
| 8 | Mashrafe Mortaza | Ban | 671 | 678 v Ind at Port-of-Spain 2007 | |
| 9= | Shahid Afridi | Pak | 660 | 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008 | |
| Stuart Broad | Eng | 660 7 | 01 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008 | ||
14 | Jerome Taylor | WI | 644 | 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008 | |
| 20 | Daren Powell | WI | 612 | 686 v Aus at St George's 2008 | |
All-rounders Rank | Player | Team | Pts | HS Rating | |
| 1 | Shakib Al Hasan | Ban | 403! | 403 v Zim at Dhaka 2009 | |
| 2 | Andrew Flintoff | Eng | 346 | 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004 | |
| 3 | Yuvraj Singh | Ind | 340 | 348 v NZ at Hamilton 2009 | |
| 4= | Shahid Afridi | Pak | 337 | 360 v Ind at Dhaka 2008 | |
| Shoaib Malik | Pak | 337 | 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005. |