India v West Indies 3rd ODI at St Lucia – India aim to bounce back in must win game

After a terrific start to the series then have fallen from sky to the earth due to their batting failure in the second ODI at Kingston and there dream of winning the ODI series in West Indies can be shattered if they loose third ODI against West Indies at St Lucia.

Indian team will be looking to get edge closer to rare series victory in West Indies, on the other hand West Indies after an emphatic win in 2nd one day international is confidant of taking 2-1 lead in four math ODI series.

The area of concern for the Indians is getting more and more. In the first ODI West Indies batsmen able to get closer to the target of 340 runs due to some poor bowling by the Indian bowlers while in second ODI there batsmen failed to read the pitch and at one stage they were in danger of getting bowled out for less than three figure marks but thanks to M.S.Dhoni and R.P.Singh partnership of 101 runs for the 9th wicket that saved some pride for the Indians otherwise it could have been more embarrassing defeats for the visitor.

In both matches, India have looked a below-par version of the side that before coming to the Caribbean had lost only three of their previous 18 matches, and had climbed to No.3 in the ODI world rankings.

Indian captain despite of making valiant 95 runs for his team doesn’t look comfortable at the crease that he is known for. He has tried many deliveries of Suleman Benn to hit put of the park but connected only once.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle and many of his teammates is hopeful of putting good show against India at St Lucia to take unbeatable 2-1 lead in the four match series. Chris Gayle is hoping for another good show from his bowlers to restrict the famed Indian batting lineup to gettable total.

Watch out for

Ravi Rampaul: Who have thought that the guy who is making comeback in the team will ran through famed Indian top order in no time. But he did exceptional job for his team and with such kind of performance his confidence is sky high at the moment. But it will be interesting to see how he tackles the pressure situation.

Gambhir and Rohit Sharma: Two consecutive failures in two innings for both man is not they use for. So we can expect something special from these two young Indian lads during 3rdSt Lucia. Another failure at No.3 for Rohit Sharma is something he can not afford after scores of 4 and 0 in the series so far. ODI at

Pitch & Condition

The pitch at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia will be another good wicket for batting. But as we have seen in the series so far team batting first need to be more cautious in the first hour or so to put up a good total. All in all it will be another batting paradise with some assistant for the spinner in the later part of the inning.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle have no other reason to change the winning combination and he is likely to go with same XI.

Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 19:00 PM India Time)

India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra.

West Indies Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Ravi Rampaul.

Stats

The average score while batting first on this venue is 243 runs. Team batting second have won on seven occasions and lost at nine. Highest score at this venue is 363 while lowest is 146 runs.

West Indies have played nine ODI at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia, winning five and losing four. However India have never played any ODI at this venue.

R.P.Singh and M.S.Dhoni 9th wicket stand in the last game was record partnership against West Indies while fourth highest partnership in the history of cricket.

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Poor batting display in 2nd ODI may hurt India badly

Once again the famed batting lineups collapse like a pack of card. Except M.S.Doni and R.P.Singh no batsmen showed maturity and patience of staying at the wicket and that cost not only the match but it can also hurt India badly if they will lose the series being 1-0 up after first game.

From 82/8 no one has thought that India will post 189 runs target to West Indies but thanks to valiant effort from R.P.Singh despite of being a bowler he showed maturity and stayed at the wickets almost till the end of Indian innings. He and Dhoni put on record partnership for the 9th wicket to give some respectability to the Indian total.

M.S.Dhoni was involved in a 101-run stand for the ninth wicket with RP Singh, who chipped in with a valuable 23 runs. It was the fifth instance of a ninth-wicket pair putting on a century-partnership, and it saved India's blushes after they were in danger of being bowled out for under three figures.
189 runs target was always going to be tough or we can say impossible for the Indian bowlers to defend such totals on a flat wicket. In the end West Indies achieve the target with the loss of just two wickets and 89 balls to spare.

In the post match conference Dhoni did admitted that his batsmen misread the pitch which cost them match. Now India have to win remaining two matches if they would like to lift the Digicel ODI Cup for the second time in the history.

Earlier after winning the toss M.S.Dhoni has no hesitation in electing to bat first, but it was all different story in the 2nd over of Indian inning. The comeback man Ravi Rampaul bowled an exceptional spell to reduce the Indian score to 7/3 in the 2nd over. Then Dhoni and Yuvraj tried to steady the Indian innings and when the pair looks threatening for West Indies, J.Taylor remove dangerous looking Yuvraj Singh (33 runs of 32 balls) to bring West Indies back on track.

Ravi Rampual completed his quota of 10 overs with his career best figure of 4 for 37. J.Taylor and D.Bravo also chipped in with three wickets each.

M.S.Dhoni top scored for India with 95 runs of 130 balls.

Ravi Rampaul was declared Player-of-the-Match.

Now India will take on West Indies on 3rd of July and 5th of July at St.Luica.

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India v West Indies 2nd ODI at Kingston – India look to keep their winning momentum going

Indian team knows they survived a scare in the first ODI at Sabina Park, Kingston, having taken a 1-0 lead in four match series they need to maintain the same level of intensity which they have showed in past to take an unbeatable lead of 2-0. West Indies is suddenly not an easy team to beat in their backyards. Past records are also in favour of West Indies where India manage just one series win on last five tours.

India somehow manage to win first ODI’s by the margin of 20 runs at Kingston, Jamaica after setting a mammoth total of 339/6 on the board. Who have though that West Indies needing 75 runs in last eight overs with three wickets in hand will reach that much closer?

Indian captain MS Dhoni did not appear to be a happy man as he shook hands with the West Indian batsmen after the game and in post match presentation also he indicated that his boys has thought that game was in their bag in the 42nd over and that was the big mistakes for his team. It was Ashish Nehra who bagged two crucial wickets in the end that save India from loosing the game after dominating the game for almost 42nd over of West Indian innings.

Indian team has few sign of concern, first is how to handle the short pitch stuff from West Indian pace attacks and second is their bowling department. Ishant Sharma looks really way wards with his line and length. In batting also India need to shot out the issue very quickly because is such short series you don’t have too much time to bounce back.

Bowling in the slog overs continued to remain an area of concern for India as home side was in the game till the end despite the tourists plucking seven wickets in 40 overs. They conceded 29 runs in extras.

West Indies did well to get so close to a monstrous target but they could have done better and pulled off a stunning chase if one of their top-order batsmen played a long innings. Four batsmen Gayle Morton, Srawan and Chanderpaul really started well but they didn’t batted till end otherwise the results could have been different for West Indies.

Watch out for

Yuvraj Singh: A man on mission. In the absence of Sehwag, Sachin and Raina he has taken the entire burden on his shoulders and that showed in the previous game. With his team 32/2 he showed his calm and collectiveness and in the end he showed how dangerous he can be when he is in full flow.

Chris Gayle: He has given his team a perfect start in the last game but didn’t carry his inning longer and that was the reason West Indies fail short by 20 runs. His hard hitting ability can be seen once again at flat Sabina Park.

Pitch & Condition

The pitch at Sabina Park, Kingston will be good wicket for batting and once again team winning the toss would love to bat on the wicket. As we have seen in the last game with short boundaries it was easy for both the teams to hit sixes and we can expect more in today’s encounter. Any score above 300 plus will be defendable total on this wicket.

Teams

India may opt to go with Praveen Kumar instead of expensive Ishant Sharma. Otherwise rest of the team looks settled.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle may opt for Ravi Rampaul instead of Lionel Baker who was not impressive in the last game.

Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time)

India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra.

West Indies Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Ravi Rampaul

Stats

There was total 23 sixes hit in the last game and that was the most number of sixes hit in a game in West Indies.

Yuvraj Singh blistering 131 was the second highest score by a batsman in West Indies.

J.Taylor figures of 1 for 74 were his most expensive spell in one day international.

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India v West Indies 1st ODI Kingston – India look to regain the lost pride

India who faced debacle after an early exit from world twenty20 is now ready to face the next task on their hand that is to beat West Indies in West Indies. It will be not as easy as it looks for M.S.Dhoni and his men. India have only manage to won a single series (2001-02 under captaincy of S.Ganguly) so far of their last five tours. India will be desperate to avenge their recent defeat against the West Indies in World twenty20 Super Eights in this four match ODI Series.

India who is playing without some of their key players is hopeful of good show in Caribbean. Dhoni is confidant that his team packed with all rounders in Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja besides the likes of star batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma would do better in West Indies.


India who lost there all Super Eights game would love to start the series with a win to boost their confidence and morale. On the other hand West Indies who manage to reach up to Semi Final of world twenty20 is flying high with confidence and West Indies captain Chris Gayle is confidant that his team will do well against weekend Indian team.

Irrespective of their recent Super Eight match win over India in the Twenty20 World Cup in England, the West Indies apprehend that the Indians will be "a handful in the Caribbean".
In the absence of Tendulkar and Sehwag, India will rely on Gambhir, Yuvraj and Dhoni to do bulk of scoring in batting department while in bowling they will feel good with return of experienced Ashish Nehra in the team. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, he is the most experience bowlers after Harbhajan Singh to lead the pace bowling attacks along with R.P.Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Watch out for

Ashish Nehra: He last played for India in 2005 and who has thought that after long gap he will make comeback to the International side and why not he has done justice to himself by performing exceptionally well in IPL. He was the third-highest wicket-taker with 19 at 18.21 each. It will be interesting to see how he approaches his first game after long break from his International career.


Chris Gayle: He may have failed to lead his team to twnty20 triumph but he has performed exceptionally well with his bat in any format of the game in recent times. He is one of most destructive players at top of the order. His approach to this game is nothing different than twenty20 at top of the order.


Pitch & Condition

Kingston wicket is expected to be on slower side with little bounce on the wicket however early moistures will help a ball little bit to move in the air and it will be good for bowlers like Nehra, R.P.Singh. Any team winning the toss would love to have a bowl first and try to resctrict the opposition below 250 runs.

Teams

After a dismal performance in twenty20, India will be eyeing to settle some score against West Indies. With absence of some of their star players like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Raina and Zaheer it will be good opportunity for some of the younger’s player like Badrinath, Abhishek Nayar and comeback man Ashish Nehra. India is likely to go into the match with three pace trio R.P.Singh, Nehra and I.Sharma. Badrinath, Vijay and Nayar is likely to sit out from this game because of their late arrivals.

West Indies team selection for the first ODI’s really raise eyebrows of few peoples by omitting L.Simmons and D.Sammy from the squad. However it is good chance for R.Morton and Darren Bravo to show their class against Indian team.

Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time)

India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra.

West Indies Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Lionel Baker.

Stats

So far on West Indies tour India have only won one ODI Series that is in 2001/02 Series under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly.

From 1983-2006 tour, India have played 20 One Day International and won just 5 and lost 15 one day international.

In 2009, India have played 10 ODI’s in which they have won 7 and lost two one day internationals. On the other hand West Indies have played 11 ODI’s and have won just three while lost 7 ODI’s.

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