 India will face West Indies in the third game of the four ODI series at
Gros Islet in St. Lucia on Friday. The series is currently tied at one game apiece,
after India won a high-scoring thriller in the first match, while West Indies
responded back in kind in the second game at Jamaica.
The West Indies selectors have announced an unchanged 13-man squad for the
next two ODIs as well, and that should do the team's confidence a world of good.
Chris Gayle's form with the bat in the second of the Jamaican one-dayer was
heartening news, but what has been even better is that most of the top-order
is in good nick.
Runako Morton smashed an unbeaten 85 after having given the West Indies a decent
start even in the first game and the Indians will need to find solutions to
his batting. As was expected, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan have found some form with the bat and will continue to prove to be
thorns in the Indian bowling's flesh again.
Twice now, the West Indian bowling has had the better of the Indian batting
in the last one month or so; one through some excellent bouncers at the body
of the Indian batsman, and on the previous occasion, by getting the ball to
move around on a slightly moist wicket. Jerome Taylor was carted around
in the first game, but his comeback in the second ODI would be refreshing. So
would Ravi Rampaul's best ever bowling analysis and, in his own words, performance,
as he went on to scalp four wickets.
Team India, on their part will look to overcome the quicker bowlers without
losing too many wickets, knowing very well that the opposition bowling does
get a trifle weak after the top three have bowled out their spells. For that
to happen, M.S.Dhoni may be looking at a couple of changes, which could include
resting Gautam Gambhir from the line-up and trying out Murali Vijay
in his place.
Ravindra Jadeja's twin failures could cause him to make way for Abhishek Nayar, who could help with some medium pacers in the middle of the innings,
but the rest of the line-up could remain the same.
From the bowling perspective, there is only one question-mark, will Ishant
Sharma make his way back in place of Praveen Kumar. This could depend
on the track on which the game will be played, whether it is more suited to
bowlers who can swing the ball or a hard, bouncy track with no scope for lateral
movement.
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