Madhu Jawali, Kanpur, Nov 27 (DHNS): The hosts pulled off a high-scoring entertainer against Australia in Bangalore early this month to clinch the seven-match series 3-2 (two matches were washed out) and they will have to win the third and final match against the West Indies to maintain their unbeaten record this year. MS Dhoni and company have won all bilateral series and multi-nation tournaments this year that began with a 3-2 home verdict against England this January.
India followed that winning start to the year with their triumph in the Champions Trophy in England in June and then clinched the tri-series in the West Indies. A second-string team, led by Virat Kohli, blanked Zimbabwe 5-0 in July-August, while they held off a strong Australian resistance to keep their slate clean. A buoyed West Indies now threaten to end their winning spree but India, despite the reversal in the previous match, will be the overwhelming favourites to win the series.
The home team will be happy that Wednesday’s match here at the Green Park will be a day affair which means, unlike in Visakhapatnam, dew will not be a major factor in the outcome of the match. The surface here, more often than not, has witnessed a fair contest between bat and ball and the balmy morning conditions and moisture in the initial stages may assist the pacers early on with the spinners coming in to the picture later in the innings.
India, who are also traditionally more comfortable chasing a target than setting one, will be keen to bowl first given the kind of pace attack they have. That said, toss isn’t something that they can influence but what they will be hoping for is some meaty contributions from Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina in the middle order to complement the in-from openers – Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – and Virat Kohli.
Yuvraj has managed 63 runs in five visits to the crease while Raina is marginally better with 123 runs in six innings. Their dismissals midway through India’s innings in the second tie, affected the momentum and though Dhoni made up for that lull period with a blistering late assault, that total proved inadequate given the tough bowling conditions in the second innings.
Notwithstanding Darren Sammy’s blitzkrieg that took the Caribbeans to their first win on the tour, the Indian bowlers looked effective with the pitches in this series offering some assistance. As Dhoni admitted after the second ODI, the dew played a crucial role in India’s unsuccessful defence of their challenging 288/7. It was difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball while the fielders struggled to hold on to their catches. With the ball getting wet frequently, even throwing became an arduous task. All these factors did help Windies to a large extent to overhaul a total which Dhoni felt was worth 400 on that surface minus the dew.
To put Inda’s loss solely to heavy dew on the ground would be discrediting West Indies’ spirited fight. Coming into the second match with their morale at its lowest following the drubbing in Tests and the first one-dayer and the loss of Chris Gayle through a hamstring injury, the visitors stopped Indian batsmen from completely running away with the game and their batsmen put their hand up to be counted for the first time on this tour.
The defeat, however, would have hardly dented India’s confidence going into the decider. In the absence of any possible extraneous factor for their aid, Windies will have to bring their A game to hand India a rare series loss this year.
Teams (from): India: MS Dhoni (captain, wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Shami, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar.
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (captain), Johnson Charles (wk), Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder, Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Kieran Powell, Narsingh Deonarine, Tino Best, Veerasammy Permaul.