Gayle batters Railways at Pune The West Indian batting against Railways on the first day of the three-day tour fixture at Pune was indistinguishable from that at Chennai just a few days ago. Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds toyed with the attack, striking fours at will on a slow pitch. Hinds fell after smashing 50 off 59 balls with 11 fours, but Gayle capitalised, hitting 154 off 294 balls before Harvinder Singh bowled him in the penultimate over of the day. Darren Ganga also took the opportunity to prove his mettle and compete for a Test slot in the final match at Kolkata, but few of the Railways bowlers could be said to be correspondingly impressive. The spin of Kulamani Parida and Murali Kartik hardly bothered the West Indians, while Harvinder and Zakir Hussain toiled on a track that offered them nothing. Reaching 297 for two at the close of play, the tourists will now be looking to snatch a much-needed morale-boosting win ahead of the Kolkata match.

Wicket-keeping, Taylor-made Bob Taylor returns to Mumbai with fond memories of that city. During the Jubilee Test between India and England in the early 80s, the England wicket-keeper was recalled by Indian skipper Gundappa Vishwanath after being given out incorrectly. Taylor has a mission that is less in the limelight this time around - talking to India's young wicket-keepers in a workshop for 25 budding stumpers. "Basically it is just hard work and practice," said Taylor in an interview to Rediff.com. "Practice makes perfect." He told his young wards as much. "Kiran More, Syed Kirmani or Ian Healy, whoever it is - and I have talked to them - keepers always have problems getting their practice because the batsmen want their practice in the nets, the bowlers want theirs, then they want the fielding practice." The keeper, consequently, is left stranded, asserted Taylor Taylor is doubtful about India's ploy of playing Rahul Dravid as a wicket-keeper in one-day internationals.. "I don't really know," said Taylor. "I haven't seen him keep that much. But I always think when you are picking the formation of the cricket team, after the captain I have already said the wicket-keeper is priority." "If Rahul misses a chance off a batsman [who] goes on to get a hundred, a big score, then he's got to make a big score to make up for it. It doesn't always work out that way. I know it's a temptation for the captain to be able to pick an extra batsman or an extra bowler, and that's why they leave the wicket-keeper out. But, personally, I think it's a mistake."

Vijayawada to host seventh one-dayer Vishakapatnam will have to wait. Originally scheduled to host the seventh and last one-dayer in the upcoming India-West Indies series, the port city has now been forced to cede the honour to southern cousin Vijayawada. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar announced the decision to switch the venue on Thursday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) gave its all-important approval after South African Mike Procter nspected the facilities at Vijayawada and found them satisfactory. Procter is slated to be the ICC Match Referee for the one-day series. Now that it has got the game, Vijayawada will have to hope that the series even extends as far as the seventh game. With the kind of form the Indians are in - and applying the same analysis to the West Indies! - a wrapped-up series as early as game four is certainly not out of the question.

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