The West Indies will take on South Africa in a crucial Group B encounter in Delhi, on Thursday, February 24, 2011.
Winning this game will boost the Windies' chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
The West Indies have been in a permanent rebuilding phase for the past two decades, from the time they stopped producing fast bowlers of quality.
After Clive Lloyd took over the reins of the team in the early seventies, they produced so many fast bowlers of quality that victory was taken for granted, more often than not.
This assurance of winning had a binding effect on the squad who come from different Caribbean nations, and come together only for the purpose of playing cricket for a unified team.
In the last 20 years, there have been some brilliant players, but cohesion has been lacking.
Players like Lara and Ambrose could win matches on their own, but that did nothing to get the team to gel, on a continual basis.
The current squad is no different.
In Gayle, they have a player who can win a game off his own bat.
Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo are all match winners on their day.
But how do the West Indies shape up as a team that can seriously bid for the ICC World Cup, a title they won twice, back in their hey day of the seventies? The squad will not have the services of Barath who was shaping well as an opener with a century in the recent 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka.
Darren Bravo, a left-handed batsman who has a physical resemblance to Lara, is settling into the number three slot, and had a couple of good innings against Sri Lanka, including a 79 in the last game.
Sarwan, returning after a hiatus, crafted a couple of fifties in the same series, and could be the anchor man the team could rely on during this year's event.
Pollard did not fire in Sri Lanka but his exploits in the IPL are legion and his familiarity with sub-continental wickets combined with his power hitting can only serve his team's cause.
Chanderpaul, like Pollard, did not get too many runs in Sri Lanka, but class, as the saying goes, is permanent, and his side will expect Chanderpaul to get runs consistently if they have to make a good fist of it.
Sammy, the skipper of the side, has been in mediocre form recently, but should seek to use the occasion to inspire himself and his team to a better showing.
This medium fast bowler can also bat a bit, and will hope to use his all-round ability to good effect on the batsman friendly wickets of the sub-continent.
Wicket keeper Baugh got useful runs in Sri Lanka and appears to be in good form.
Miller gives the bowling variety with his slow left-arm orthodox spin.
New ball operators Rampaul and Roach have sufficient ODI experience coming into the tournament, and should seek to maintain consistency in line and length on the dead wickets they can expect to play on.
Benn, all of 6'7" tall, is another slow-left arm orthodox spin bowler that the Windies should treat as a valuable asset on the slow turners they can expect in this tournament.
he played in the last game of the Sri Lanka series and took 4/38, and that's a positive sign for his team.
Dwayne Bravo is to my mind the classiest player in this Windies squad.
A more than efficient bat, Bravo brings a wicket taking ability with his seam bowling and a fierce competitive spirit to bear.
His side will need a large dose of all that as they head to Delhi seeking tio win their crucial Group B meeting with South Africa.