 India will play the West Indies in the fifth and the final ODI of the series
at Barbados. The game will be played on Wednesday and will see the two teams grapple
for different things - India to end the ODIs on a high and West Indies
to ensure that they can repeat what they did to the Pakistanis - lose only 2-3.
The Indians had led the series 3-0 and gone into the Antigua game with a lot of
confidence but the problem that they faced was that they gave up three of their
main players. This weakened their line-up no ends and ensured that the West Indian
side could get to a score of 250 in the end. This was the highest score from the
West Indian side for a long time before they turned on the heat with the ball
in the hand and ensured that they made it difficult for the opposition.
Click for Live Score Card of India Vs West Indies
Anthony Martin, who had replaced Devendra Bishoo in the playing eleven made life
difficult for the Indians, as did the other pace bowlers and they could never
get going to be bowled out cheaply.
India had gone into the game with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Munaf Patel
and Harbhajan Singh, all being given a break and that showed in their performance.
It would have done well to allow Harbhajan Singh to play instead of making
so many changes.
What needs to be now seen is whether the Indian side backs their playing eleven
that was chosen for the previous game or if they would go back to the previous
11. My surmise is that they could look at bringing Harbhajan Singh back into the
playing eleven with R Ashwin at the other end and give Mishra the break - just
to change things around a little.
There is also another option for the Indians and that is to drop Yusuf Pathan.
Pathan's form has been so woeful that he has scored absolutely nothing in the
series. To top that, he has played some irresponsible shots as well and made
life difficult for his team down the order. This could mean that Manoj Tiwary
could retain his place, Dhawan comes back and opens the innings while Tiwary
is pushed down the order.
The West Indian side may not want to change the winning combination and that
will make things interesting. Darren Sammy seems to be doing a good job
with the ball so far.
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