After Mumbai flop, WI look to salvage pride
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The last time West Indies emerged victorious in an ODI series in India, in 2002, Carl Hooper was the leader of the Caribbean pack while the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly still donned the national colours. The two sides’ paradigm headed in opposite directions since then, with India reaching two World Cup finals, winning once in 2011, while West Indies barely scraping through to qualify for the 2019 World Cup.
Thus, come Thursday, if Jason Holder’s men manage to pull off another shock win as they had in Pune, the magnitude of the victory would be no less than a series win for the islanders even though record books will show it as 2-2.
VIRAT-ROHIT COMBO
Both skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are in exemplary form and have combined to hit five of the six centuries scored by India in the series. Although India’s lower middle-order is virtually untested, the form of the top four has been such that their success and failure have determined the course of a match.
To add to West Indies’ woes, No. 4 Ambati Rayudu joined the bandwagon in the last game. A key man over the last couple of months, Rayudu slammed two half-centuries in the Asia Cup before going a notch ahead in the ongoing series with a century in the last game.
However, bowling coach Bharat Arun underlined that despite everything, a player will only be eligible for selection if he makes the mark set for the Yo-yo test. Rayudu had missed the flight to England after failing the test. “Fitness, with the kind of schedule that we have, is our focus. The pass mark is not every tough. So everyone has to pass the test,” Arun said.
RAIN PREDICTIONS
Overall thus, it should be advantage India. Only, that it isn’t completely so. The weather Gods have kept both the sides guessing with chances of a rain-curtailed encounter well on the cards. There is a forecast of thunderstorm around afternoon on Thursday. A washout, would hand India a 2-1 victory.
West Indies fielding coach Nic Pothas, however, lauded the hosts stating that the series was a great learning curve for his inexperienced side. The confidence exuded after clinching the third ODI also seemed to have fizzled out a bit following the shambolic show in Mumbai.
“Lots of fantastic players — that’s what you get with such a strong team. They’re a great team to learn from. We don’t just play against India, we learn from them too. These are great opportunities when you come and play against teams of this quality,” Pothas said.
RUN FEST
India might opt for a similar tactic as the last game if they win the toss given that the track is expected to help batsmen. Although there’s a bit of grass on the surface, it isn’t a hard deck and is unlikely to offer much to the bowlers.
There haven’t been much cricket played on the surface this season as well going into Thursday’s match although it has a hosted a couple of local league games.