KHURRAM HABIB
When India take on West Indies in the fifth and final ODI at the Sabina Park on Thursday, they’ll hope to keep their recent good record in the Caribbean intact.
They’ve won the last three ODI series in the Caribbean, and but for the loss in the previous game in Antigua, they would have already sealed their fourth by now.
However, nerves that resulted in a poor finish by the batsmen saw them lose a game they should have won in a canter.
India though have looked far better than West Indies throughout the series. The hosts only managed to pull back in the last few overs of the fourth ODI to bounce back in the series.
Hardik Pandya, who threw his wicket away and was one of the players to be blamed for India’s late wobble in the 11-run defeat, promised a change in approach in the final game.
“We will be fearless in the final game. The previous game was one of those games where it did not click. But we will go ahead and express ourselves, that is when we play our best cricket,” he said.
Throughout the last phase of Sunday’s game, India needed a run-a-ball. However, a seemingly conservative approach added to the pressure under which India wilted.
Virat Kohli’s boys had a long net session on Tuesday with MS Dhoni having an almost half-anhour stint.
The former India skipper is coming off two successive fifties but the two innings have been West Indies recalled Chris Gayle for the first time since he helped the Caribbean side in winning the ICC World T20 2016 last year, for the oneoff T20 against India on July 9. Apart from Gayle, the Caribbean side has also sought the services of Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard. While Narine had Gayle, on the other hand, had last played in the final of the ICC World T20 2016 against England in Kolkata.
After helping his side win the tournament for the record second time, the burly and explosive batsman had indicated that he might have played his last match for West Indies, as the issues between the players and the formerly-named West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) were at their lowest point.
Gayle’s inclusion means the journey is not over for the lefthanded batsman who remains a hot property in the T20 format. Gayle had smacked an unbeaten 100 against England at the start