A 16-member Indian team, eager to ease the pain of their Twenty20 World Cup debacle, arrived in Port-of-Spain from London on Friday for a four-match ODI series against the West Indies, starting June 26.
The visitors landed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Jamaica without key players Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan.
But captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was confident his team has the wherewithal to challenge the inconsistent West Indies as they play the first two matches at Sabina Park on June 26 and 28. The next two are in St Lucia, on July 3 and 5.
"When it comes to playing for your country you don't really need motivation to go out and perform. West Indies is playing good cricket at the moment. They are having a very good (World) Twenty20 tournament, but in the 50 overs, you have time to settle down," said Dhoni.
"After playing so much Twenty20 games, 50 overs seems like a Test match," quipped Dhoni.
Coach Gary Kirsten, who said fatigue and injuries resulted in India's failure in the T20 World Cup, admitted that the experienced players would be missed but said it was the time for youngsters to seize the opportunity.
"You're always going to miss them because they are great players, but it's a great opportunity for a tour of this nature for young players to show what they're made of," said Kirsten.
"We're looking to those young players for the future as well. This is a great opportunity for these guys to stake their claim."
Tendulkar opted out of the tour as he wanted rest while both Zaheer and Sehwag are nursing injuries.
