When the first ball of the final match of this four-ODI series is bowled
one side will be attempting to answer several questions for itself while
the other is in a position where there’s little to lose and yet plenty to
gain
The Preview by Anand Vasu in Vadodara30-Jan-2007
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When the first ball of the final match of this four-ODI series is bowled
one side will be attempting to answer several questions for itself while
the other is in a position where there’s little to lose and yet plenty to
gain. India are still trying to find their best possible combination for
the World Cup while West Indies are just looking for a symbolic win – it
would be good to begin their campaign in the big tournament, still some
time away, with a win under the belt.The conditionsThe Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ground has produced some fiery
pitches in the past, with the ball darting about sharply off the seam and
a predominantly mediumpace Vadodara attack, whose home ground this is,
making life miserable for visitors. This is not going to be one such
pitch. Despite the intermittent rain, the pitch appears to be a
fairly typical one-day strip, loaded in the favour of the batsmen. If
there’s more rain about there could well be a case for going into the game
with only one spinner.The personnelWest Indies have, despite going 1-2 down, enjoyed the chance to give their
cricketers a run, and some have grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
But, going into the final game, they have injury concerns for two vital
players – Dwayne Bravo (left shoulder) and Marlon Samuels (left index
finger). Samuels was taken for precautionary x-rays on the eve of the
match but a final decision on fitness would only be taken on the morning
of the match. For India, the four who missed out straightaway were Suresh
Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar.Combination conundrumEven after having narrowed their pool down to twelve, India have some tricky
decisions to make before they decide who will carry drinks. Robin Uthappa
and Sourav Ganguly will open, with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to
follow, and Yuvraj Singh, coming back from injury, must play. The fact
that India are keen to find out if Irfan Pathan – a key component of
bringing flexibility and balance to the side – is back in good enough
bowling form, means that Dinesh Karthik might just miss out. If Karthik is
benched, then both spinners can play alongside Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer
Khan, covering for the eventuality that Pathan’s bowling isn’t up to
scratch yet. It would be hard to drop one of the spinners, for Anil Kumble
needs a game or two under his belt before the World Cup.Momentum?With India and West Indies having played each other a fair bit in the
recent months, there has been incessant chatter about who has the
psychological edge at what point and whom the momentum was with. West
Indies first had it, winning 4-1 at home, then reinforcing it when India lost to the West Indies in
the Champions Trophy in Ahmedabad. Now India are up 2-1. But, the result
of this series, coming as it does just before the World Cup, means that
there are few brownie points to win one way or the other. The result of
what happened at Vadodara on January 31 will be long forgotten if and when
the two teams were to clash again in the second half of the World Cup.Squads
India (from) 1 Sourav Ganguly, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Rahul Dravid
(capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7
Ajit Agarkar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Irfan
Pathan, 12 Dinesh Karthik.West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Runako
Morton, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8
Denesh Ramdin, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 Daren Powell, 12 Rayad
Emritt, 13 Devon Smith, 14 Lendl Simmons.
