PTI - Wednesday, 12-45 am IST

Kingston, May 17: West Indies have retained their match-winning combination which played in the last two games against Zimbabwe for the first two one-dayers against India beginning here on Thursday.
 
West Indies skipper Brian Lara said he believed that he now had the best combination to take on the Indians in the five-match series. “We have this situation where we tried different players. What we were really looking to do was to come up with the best possible 14 for this series,” he said.
 
The decision to retain the squad means that talented wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramadin once again does not get a place in the squad. Defending his exclusion, Lara said Jamaica wicketkeeper Calrton Baugh junior had seized his opportunity after three years in the wilderness and he was the right man to go ahead with at the moment.
 
“The likes of Carlton Baugh coming into the team and performing well is good, putting some pressure on the young Ramdin, who I have a lot of respect for, but maybe he needed that kind of competition. Read whatever you like in it but it’s not a situation where you consider a 21-year-old wicketkeeper being dropped. I think the competition is very healthy and it augurs well for West Indies cricket,” he said.
 
“It’s a situation where a guy, Carlton Baugh, has got an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.” 
 
Squad
 
Brian Lara, Christopher Gayle, Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Carlton Baugh Jnr., Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo and Dave Mohammed.