West Indies suffered a major blow on Tuesday ahead of the second one-day international at Cuttack with Brian Lara ruled out of the match with a knee problem. Chris Gayle will lead the team In Lara’s absence. Lara’s absence will definitely affect the team as they were aiming to bounce back from their 14-run defeat at Nagpur on Sunday.

Lara who recently completed 10,000 runs in ODI’s suffered a longstanding chronic knee problem in his left knee after the first ODI at Nagpur. Dwayne Bravo will replace the injured Lara who was declared fit following his collision with the square-leg umpire at Nagpur.

India may go in with a few replacement faces for tactical reasons. Ramesh Powar, the off-spinner who bats lower down the order, has been included instead of Suresh Raina and Joginder Sharma, the medium-pace allrounder finds a place in the final eleven ahead of Sreesanth.

RP Singh and Robin Uthappa have been left out as well but the final decision between the two will be made tomorrow after another look at the pitch.

The game will be played under lights, and there’s a feeling the dew could prove to be a factor. The Windies will go all out to level the series as India would try and make it 2-0. A low scoring nail biting finish is expected on the cards.