After narrowly escaping defeat in the series opener,India would look to guard against complacency and hope for an improved showing from theirbatsmen when they take on the West Indies in the secondcricket one-dayer in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

The opening match of the five-match series in Cuttack twodays ago saw an inexperienced Indian bowling restrict theCaribbean side for a paltry 211 for nine.

But chasing the modest total, India’s much-fancied batting line-up faltered and if not for comeback man Rohit

Sharma’s 99-ball 72, the home team could have been down 0-1 in the series.

India’s inexperienced pace trio of R Vinay Kumar (1/27), Varun Aaron (2/47) and Umesh Yadav (2/33) not only excelled with the ball in Cuttack but also showed amazing calmness

while batting to set up the thrilling one-wicket victory for the hosts.

Needing 11 runs off 23 balls under tense situation, the last wicket pair of Aaron and Yadav kept their calm and saw Indiahome with seven balls to spare.

And the Indian thinktank obviously will not want a repeat of the Cuttack episode, especially on a run-belter at the Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, where the hosts have an all-win record in the three matches they played in Visakhapatnam.

India’s stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, who is leading the side in place of regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, hasalready cautioned the batsmen after the Cuttack match, saying there should not be any excuse for poor show.

“There is no excuse for anybody not scoring runs,” he said about India’s batting collapse in the first ODI.

We have to back our batting. We have some exciting youngsters playing

for last three four years,” Sehwag said.

But Dhoni, who has been rested for the series keeping in mind the upcoming tour of Australia, will be sorely missed by the spectators in Visakhapatnam.

Hosting a match after more than two years, the venueremains a testimony of Dhoni’s rise to stardom as it is this

ground where he scored his maiden ODI sentury, a blistering148 off 123 balls against Pakistan in 2005.

But in the absence of senior players like Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, the cricket-crazy crowd of the port city would be looking towards Sehwag to produce a gem of an innings on Friday.

Sehwag, who was bowled by an incoming Kemar Roachdelivery in Cuttack, would also be keen to  improve his battingrecord as captain.

He averages a poor 21.50 with 44 being his best score from eight matches as skipper.

Wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel also would be eyeing to makeamends for his poor show in Cuttack and cash in on yet another oppotunity with both bat and gloves in place of Dhoni.

Among other Indian top-order batsmen, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, who all disappointed in Cuttack, will be desperate to avoid yet another collapse by returning among runs on Friday.

Apart from Rohit, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the other Indian batsmen to provide some resistence in the first

ODI with a gritty 62-ball 38, and he would be hoping toconvert his starts into big scores.

The inexperienced Indian bowlers, on the other hand,impressed all and sundry with their performance in Cuttack.

The three-pronged pace attack of Vinay Kumar, Yadav andAaron stood up and grabbed their chances with both hands sofar in the absence of seniors like Zaheer Khan and Praveen

Kumar, who are out with injuries.

And the trio would once again look to strangle the WestIndies batsmen with a tidy performance on Friday.

On the spin department front, R Ashwin, who bowled tightly in the first ODI, would like to continue his dream form.

Ashwin will share the responsibility of spin attack with Jadeja and part-timers Raina and Rohit as India are all set to field an unchanged side on Friday in search of a 2-0 lead.

West Indies too have problems galore in their battingdepartment which they need to sort out immediately to stand in with any chance of upsetting the home team in the ODI series after the 2-0 loss in the Test rubber.

In the first ODI, all the West Indies top-order batsmen got starts but except Darren Bravo, no one could capitalise onthem.

Bravo, who scored a 74-ball 60 in the first match, will be the batting mainstay for the Caribbean side, which is full of allrounders.

But the need of the hour for captain Darren Sammy is a solid opening foundation and he would bank on Lendl Simmons, who has a good record against the Indians, and Adrian Barath for that.

For the West Indies, the last match was another so-near-yet-so far story in the series.

And it remains to be seen whether they learn from the mistakes, having let India win from a precarious position in the first ODI.

With good knowledge of subcontinental conditions, big-hitting all-rounder Kieron Pollard will be the key man for the visitors and the West Indies thinktank may just look to bring him up the order.

“We all have seen what he (Pollard) has done here in IPL. Last time he played in the World Cup, he batted well. He has a lot of knowledge about the Indian conditions and Indian players having played here for three seasons,” skipper Sammy had said.

“We look forward to his knowledge and experience. We willlook to use that into effect,” Sammy added.

The Kemar Roach-led West Indies bowling attack, however,showed in the last match that they have what it takes totrouble the famed Indian batsmen on their home ground.

In the absence of Ravi Rampaul, who was rested, Roach, who picked up three wickets, and his colleagues dished out lethal performance to make life diffuclt for the Indian batsmen.

But the spin department remains a worry for Sammy and thevisitors may just look to strengthen the area by handing out adebut to off-spinner Sunil Narine, who was impressive in thisyear’s Champions League T20 in India.

Teams:

India: Virender Sehwag (captain), Parthiv Patel (wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, R Vinay Kumar, Varun Aaron, Umesh

Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Abhimanyu Mithun andRahul Sharma.

West Indies: Darren Sammy(captain), Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt,

Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, KemarRoach, Anthony Martin, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, KieranPowell and Ravi Rampaul.

Field umpires: Tony Hill (NZ), S Ravi;

Third: Sudhir Asnani,

Fourth: Anil Chowdhury;

Match Referee: David Boon (AUS).

Match starts: 2.30pm (IST).