Pandya backs himself to finish games for India

kingston — Promising “fearless” cricket in the series-deciding fifth ODI against the West Indies on Thursday, Hardik Pandya says he backs himself to be a finisher for India after failing to do the job in the previous game.

India needed 29 off 31 balls when Pandya (20 off 21) got out in the fourth ODI which the visitors eventually lost by 11 runs. Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the other end but his 114-ball 54 too did not prove to be good enough.

While Dhoni’s finishing powers are on the wane, Pandya has shown promise on his way to becoming a world-class finisher.

Talking about his partnership with Dhoni, Pandya said they were confident about chasing down the modest 190run target. “The conversation with MS was pretty simple to be honest.

The power which we both have we thought to take the innings deep and then chase it down. Most times we would chase 31 off 29 balls but then we were not able to finish. I back myself to finish the game for the team and all these instances are part of the learnings,” said Pandya at Sabina Park. — PTI

Squads

> India: Virat Kohli (captain), shikhar dhawan, ajinkya rahane, yuvraj singh, Mahendra singh dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, hardik Pandya, ravichandran ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, umesh yadav, Kuldeep yadav, rishabh Pant, dinesh Karthik, Mohammed shami and ravindra Jadeja.

> West Indies: Jason holder (capt), sunil ambris, devendra Bishoo, roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Kyle hope, shai hope, alzarri Joseph, Evin lewis, Jason Mohammed, ashley Nurse, rovman Powell, Kesrick Williams.