West Indies start preparation for Tendulkar`s farewell series

Kolkata: As the hype around senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar`s farewell Test series builds up, the West Indies will begin their month-long tour with a three-day practice match against the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association starting from Thursday.

The West Indies have already stated that they have come here with a mission to win the series, would not give even an inch to Tendulkar and try their best to spoil his farewell. "We`re here on a mission to win the series. We`ll try our best to stop him (Tendulkar) from scoring. We`ll not give him an inch. He has to earn every run," West Indies operations manager Richie Richardson had said after a recce of the practice venue -- Jadavpur University Campus ground in Saltlake -- on Tuesday. The Windies have no Sunil Narine, the mystery off-spinner who is known for his exploits in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders. The Windies line-up has two specialist tweakers in 30-year-old off-spinner Shane Shillingford and left-armer Veerasammy Permaul and it seems that the former would be picked because of his experience. In the pace attack, there`s no Ravi Rampaul and they have Kemar Roach and Tino Best as the new-ball bowlers along with captain Darren Sammy medium pace. Besides, Kirk Edwards and wicketkeeper batsman Chadwick Walton are on a comeback trail. Edwards, known to India for his debut Test century in 2011 at Roseau, was dropped after his failure in their England tour of 2012 but captained West Indies A with success in their tour to India in September. He made a 91 in the first-class game followed by a century in the List A match as the Windies would definitely hope that he starts with another big knock. The UPCA XI will have three former Indian players in batsman Mohammad Kaif, medium pacer RP Singh and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla who has been named captain of the side.