Port of Spain: Just ten days after MS Dhoni's men laid hands on the coveted ICC Champions Trophy, the No. 1 ODI team is in danger of being eliminated from the ongoing tri-nation series in the Caribbean and needs to beat hosts West Indies here on Friday to stay alive.
India will like to get back into the winning habit they developed in England but went missing in Jamaica, where during the first leg of the tournament they suffered consecutive defeats against West Indies and Sri Lanka. The equation now, which looks simple on paper, is to win the remaining two games, hope for other results to pan out in your favour and move into the final.
There're no two ways about the fact that MS Dhoni's absence has hurt the World Champions big time. The Indian skipper is out of the tournament with a hamstring injury, handing over the reigns to Virat Kohli. But the Delhi batsman has so far failed to marshal his troops in the one and a half games in charge.
A dejected Virat Kohli walks back after being dismissed in the game against Sri Lanka. (AFP Photo)
With a win desperately needed, India are likely to stick to the batting order that delivered consistently in England; however, adaptation will be the key on Friday for the Indian batsmen, for they need to spend time, graft and then go for the big shots. The only change in the line-up could be Dhoni's replacement Ambati Rayadu coming in for Murali Vijay.
Adapting to the slow tracks will be the key for bowlers as well. They will have to stick to a line and bring variation into play instead of striving for pace and turn or trying to bounce the batsmen out. All front-line bowlers had an economy-rate of above six in the game against Sri Lanka, with Shami Ahmed and Umesh Yadav giving away 132 runs in their 18 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's exclusion came as the biggest surprise and he is most likely to return to the fold replacing Ahmed. Looking at the conditions, Amit Mishra also might get a game in place of Yadav.
West Indies, on the other hand, are sitting quite comfortably with two wins from two games and are most likely to make the cut for the final. Kieron Pollard has responded well after being asked to captain following Dwayne Bravo's groin injury just prior to the series. Chris Gayle's hundred against the Lankans and Johnson Charles' lion-hearted 97 against India has given confidence to lower order. Darren Bravo's fifty against India was extremely crucial during the latter half of the innings whereas Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels are both capable of hitting the ball a long way.
Among bowlers, Kemar Roach has kept things tight with the new ball, which allowed Ravi Rampaul and Tino Best to get crucial scalps in the first two matches. Sunil Narine continues to weave a web with his mystery spin, which fetched him four wickets in the opening game of the tournament against Sri Lanka. Another good news for the West Indies is that original skipper Bravo has recovered from his groin injury and is likely to be part of the India clash.
But for India, their focus should solely be on a win as they can't control the results of other games. On the other hand, unbeaten West Indies will like to keep the winning momentum going and confirm a final berth.
Probable XIs:
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Ambati Rayadu/Murali Vijay, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Ravichandran Ashwin, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Umesh Yadav/Amit Mishra, 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Dwayne Bravo (capt)/Devon Smith, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Tino Best, 11 Sunil Narine.
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