 The last league game of the Champions Trophy tournament will have the Indians
facing the West Indies. The game will be played at Johannesburg on a wicket that
has been a mystery to the sides, so much so that it has been difficult for the
sides to predict what they would do after winning the toss.
Click for Live Score Card of India vs West IndiesThe match's result would wholly and solely depend on what happens in the match
prior to that. Australia will be facing off with Pakistan in the previous
game, with the Pakistanis having already qualified for the semi-finals. However,
if Australia beats Pakistan, then the India-West Indies game will be
turned inconsequential one and it will be a big blow to the Indians.
However, if Pakistan beats Australia, then the Indians will need to win the
match against West Indies by a huge margin. Let us take the example of
Pakistani beating Australia off the last ball of the game, or by one
run. In that case, the Indians will need to win their game against West Indies
by more than 100 runs, or with around 20 overs to spare if the teams score 200!
Of course, these figures are only indicative, and can go up or down depending
on the situation, but give a reasonable insight into how difficult the situation
is for the Indians. Especially on a pitch which is anything but batting friendly.
India will rely heavily on their batting to come good against the West Indian
side. It will do them good to field first, given that they will know what the
target is and the number of overs that the team needs to get them in.
It is very evident that the Indian captain does not have too much faith in
his quick bowlers. whether it is four bowlers or five, the target always seems
to be going in the range of more than 300 in both the games, and that could
just mean that India may drop the extra bowler, and try to buffer their line-up
up in case of the eventuality where they have to chase a lot of runs. The one
who could face the axe is Ishant Sharma, who has been bowling more woefully
than a club bowler and in his place, the Indians may opt for the all round skills
of Abhishek Nayar - someone who can bowl medium pace and bat lower down
the order. In fact, that could just be India's best chance of chasing the target.
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