It's not often that Zimbabwe begin a triangular One-Day tournament as favourites. However, when the home side takes on West Indies in the first clash of the Coca Cola Cup at Harare on Saturday, that is certainly the position they find themselves in. Carl Hooper's West Indians have done little in the recent past to inspire confidence. Losing by seven wickets to Zimbabwe County Districts in a practice one-dayer, the men from the Caribbean need to pull up their socks in a hurry. The third team in the tournament, India will not be on much of a high after their Test loss to Zimbabwe not one week ago.

With all factors pointing towards Zimbabwe being the favourites, one bit of news pushes the hosts back. Andy Flower, undoubtedly Zimbabwe's best batsman, dislocated a finger while keeping wickets in the second Test and has been ruled out of the tournament. While this is a blow to the home side, the rapid emergence of players like Andy Blignaut at the highest level augurs well. Young stumper Tatenda Taibu will take Flower's place.

The Indian squad for the limited overs games has been strengthened by the addition of four sets of fresh legs in Virender Sehwag, Reetinder Sodhi, Dinesh Mongia and Harvinder Singh. Although initially slated to return home after the Tests, Ashish Nehra has done enough in the Tests to be retained for the tournament. Mongia, preferred over the explosive yet less than consistent Yuvraj Singh bolsters a batting line-up that is already packed. While skipper Sourav Ganguly has struggled in the Tests, the southpaw has had no such problem in the shorter version of the game. Still averaging almost 45 in one-dayers, Ganguly seems to relish opening the batting with the field restrictions encouraging stroke making.

The line up for India is predictable, with only the bowling spots up for grabs. Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Hemang Badani are likely to make up the top order. Sameer Dighe is the only keeper on tour and he is sure to don the gloves. Of the four remaining spots one goes almost by default to Harbhajan Singh. This leaves Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Debashish Mohanty and Harvinder Singh fighting for the three bowling slots left. Sodhi, with his promise as an all rounder also has an outside chance of making the final eleven.

But enough about India. One must dwell a bit with the home side. The victory over India in the second Test is a confidence booster like never before for several reasons. Although many factors contributed to the triumph, the fighting qualities shown by the home team's fighting spirit was certainly one of the most important. Unlike their recent victory over minnows Bangladesh, the recent victory over India was hard fought. The Indians contributed to their own downfall by some loose cricket and yet it was the unflagging efforts of the Zimbabwe medium pacers Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut, who picked up 13 wickets between them that drove the final nails into the Indian coffin. The patient yet solid unbeaten 62 from Stuart Carlisle too cannot be underestimated.

In short, this is a highly competitive and indeed organised Zimbabwe side. And that cannot be said of both their opponents. While the return of Shivnarine Chanderpaul after injury lends some solidity to the West Indian team, they are unlikely to give anyone a run for their money till their big guns Carl Hooper and Brian Lara come up with strong performances more consistently. The bowling department too looks suspiciously unreliable with only Merv Dillon and Reon King inspiring any confidence.

Ultimately, the Coca-Cola Cup will go to the team which shows most spirit.

© CricInfo