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| India aim at series win in third ODI against West Indies | | | CHENNAI, JAN 26
Powered by two back-to-back wins, India would look forward to bank on their team work and renewed vigour to clinch the series in the penultimate one-day international cricket match against West Indies here tomorrow.
The hosts will take heart from the fact that they staved off starkly different yet challenging situations to come out victors in the last two matches.
After seeing his team take an unassailable 2-0 lead, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid may try out some players with the focus on prolific middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh, who is staging a comeback after recuperating from a knee injury.
Apart from Yuvraj, the inclusion of veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the squad is a strong indication that he will also get into the final eleven as the countdown for picking the team for the World Cup has started.
Although the dew factor in the second session of the day-night game at Chepauk will keep both sides on tenterhooks, the Indian batsmen will relish the strip in the middle, which the curator says will be a belter, to get some confident knocks under their belt.
The toss is likely to hold the key as neither side would like to affect their batting because of the dew factor.
"Everything depends on the exsisting conditions on the match day. The outfield is like a carpet, the ball will move faster and the wicket will a batting strip. The team winning the toss will be on an advantageous position," said curator K Parthasarathy.
With coach Greg Chappell already sounding the war cry by saying that some "cold and calculating" decisions can be taken while choosing the squad for the World Cup, the Indians cannot afford to be complacent in the lead-up matches.
The signs, at present, are encouraging for the side as most of the batsmen shone in the first one-dayer at Nagpur while the bowlers rose to the occasion in the battle of attrition at Cuttack.
As many as five batsmen have made 50-plus scores for the hosts in the last two matches. If Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, M S Dhoni and Dravid brightened up the batting fortunes for India at Nagpur, young Dinesh Kaarthick notched up a gritty innings in difficult circumstances to bail out the team.
After being punished by Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, the bowlers stuck to their task in the second match to successfully defend a modest total.
As India are likely to go in with three spinners apart from new ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar in the third ODI here, ace leg-spinner Anil Kumble will try to match the performance of his younger fellows Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh.
And the Karnataka bowler appeared very serious about the task ahead. After flying down to Chennai, he rushed to the stadium for some practice before joining his team mates at the hotel last evening.
Indications are that Dravid will rest inform players Ganguly, Dhoni and Harbhajan to accommodate opener Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj and Kumble for tomorrow's match.
For the West Indies, availability of captain Brian Lara would do a world of good to their batting strength as well as the dipping morale.
Lara, who is recovering from his knee injury after missing out on the second match, would like to play tomorrow's game and inspire his team to save the series.
Apart from regular performers like Lara, Chanderpaul, and Chris Gayle, the Caribbeans would need batsmen like Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Runako Morton to shoulder responsibility and deliver the goods.
The visitors' bowling will revolve around medium pacers Ian Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor and Darren Powell, the most successful bowler in Cuttack. Besides, they have utility part-time bowlers in Gayle, Bravo and Smith.
For the statistically-minded, the home team enjoys an advantage over their rivals as the Mohammed Azharuddin-led Indians had beaten West Indies, captained by Courtney Walsh, in the only limited overs match played between the two at the venue in 1994-95.
Teams (from):
In dia: Rahul Dravid (capt), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Ghambir, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreeshanth, Zaheer Khan, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble.
West Indies: Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Ian Bradshaw, Rayad Emrit, Darren Powell, Devon Smith and Jerome Taylor.
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