INDORE, India, CMC – For the second time in four days, West Indies face a crucial test of their mettle as they seek to win the fourth One-Day International against India here today and stay alive in the five-match series.
The Caribbean side faced the same daunting task on Monday but came through with flying colours, with a 16-run win in Ahmedabad.
Now, they must lift themselves again physically and mentally, to face an India side anxious to close out the series after winning the first two games last week.
“This is a massive game for us but we won’t be putting any extra pressure on ourselves. We will go out and play with confidence and express ourselves,” captain Darren Sammy told reporters.
“Morale of the team is good. All throughout this tour we kept coming close. It’s about taking the opportunity and grabbing it and winning. We did it in the last game, so the morale is definitely up some more.
“Winning is the ultimate goal. We will keep applying pressure. We want to go out and execute our plans tomorrow.”
West Indies will have to do without the services of Darren Bravo who injured his hamstring in the last game and has failed in his bid to be fit.
He has been a key member of the batting line up and West Indies may now have to revert to Adrian Barath to partner Lendl Simmons at the top of the order.
Much will rest on the in-form Simmons, Marlon Samuels who got a half-century on Monday and the big-hitting Twenty20 specialist Kieron Pollard who is yet to really fire in the series.
Fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul and Kemar Roach will look to unsettle the Indian top order as they have in the series so far, while all eyes will be on wily off-spinner Sunil Narine to see if he builds on his impressive debut from Monday.
Sammy said his side was motivated to finish off the series strongly, especially with the tour bringing an end to a long travel schedule.
“We now have two games left and most of the guys have been away from home for two-and-a-half months. We want to finish on a high,” he said.
“We have to believe we can win and take it down to Chennai for the final. So far in the series, both in Tests and ODIs, we had the opportunity to win. We took the last one and look forward to create another opportunity and take it.”
India, meanwhile, will be confident they can rebound after their stumble in Ahmedabad.
They will depend heavily on the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who have been their saving graces in the series.
Sharma has compiled half-centuries in all three of his innings for an aggregate of 257 runs while Kohli, who stroked a century in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam, has 140 runs.
The game will bowl off at 2.30 pm (5 am Eastern Caribbean Time).
SQUADS:
INDIA – Virender Sehwag (captain), Varun Aaron, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Abhimanyu Mithun, Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), Irfan Pathan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Rahul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Vinay Kumar.
WEST INDIES – Darren Sammy (captain), Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Anthony Martin, Sunil Narine, Kieran Powell, Jason Mohammed.