*INDIA VS WESTINDIES 3rd ODI IN A 3 MATCH ODI SERIES 2023 PREVIEW*
*THE BUILD UP:*
*INDIA MUST PUT AN END TO THE EXPERIMENTATION:*
It’s been 10 years since India last won an ICC tournament and the memories of all the knockouts still haunt us, like there’s no end to it. The management and the team does not seem to learn and are stubborn. The nation expected some changes right when the duo of Dravid and Rohit took the centrestage but all along, it’s been the same old mindset mistakes and unnecessary experiments when they are not the need of the hour. The Asia cup and the World Cup are right around the corner and India decides to rest their big guns Rohit and Kohli with the pace troika of Shami-Bumrah-Siraj already out of action. It’s this very time, where the stakes are low, that the entire team must get together in order to horn their skills and fine tune them before the big event comes up. India made a mistake by entirely shuffling the batting order the other day and paid a heavy price for it as they were caught in a web and were dismissed for a mere 181 runs on what was a slow turner that the WI board produced. Though India were quick to send the four batters of WI, they lacked the spark that was needed to dismiss the Windies skipper who was determined to drive his side home.
Team India have the right set of players but their execution has been poor. The batters who are in form are being pushed down the order or being rested whereas T20 superheroes like SKY are being given unlimited ODI opportunities despite the Mumbaikar producing mediocre returns. They need a strong mindset, one that is best suited to win the WorldCup, in order to get their plans right and this must start from tomorrow onwards when they take on WestIndies in a series decider.
*WI PROBABLE XI:*
Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope(c)(wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Keacy Carty, Romario Shephered, Y Cariah, Alzarri Joseph, Motie, Jayden Seales
Carty, batting at 6 for the Windies did a remarkable job the other day. Despite struggling for the first 20 balls or so and hardly registering runs, he stuck there and grounded out the opposition and when the brakes loosened, decided to pounce back on the Indians. He was crucial in taking WI out of a tricky position and innings like these only help you grow in confidence as a middle order batter. He tackled both spin and pace nicely by the end of it and Indians would be keen upon seeing the back of him in the third ODI.
15 overs from spin from Windies and it yielded great results for the hosts. 4 wickets in total and leaking just 61 in the process, the Indians were caught in a web of spin from which rescue was impossible. The pitch is likely to remain the same and the two could once again prove to be dangerous. Kohli will return but we know of his struggles vs left arm spin, we could see a similar story. On the other hand, the gameplan of Motie and Cariah would be interesting to watch with Rohit returning. The Indian skipper has been India’s best player of spin in the last few years- extracting max runs from sweeping the ball.
*INDIA PROBABLE XI:*
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan(Wk), Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel/Mukesh Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik Kuldeep Yadav
The likes of Rohit and Kohli haven’t had a major chance to bat this series and given the experiments that India were trying, this doesn’t come as a surprise. As we approach the final ODI of this series, we could see more of them and most importantly, the duo batting at their respective positions where they have generated a bulk of the runs. The experience that they bring on these shores along with their temperament will be a huge plus if India are to emerge victorious in this series.
Ishan Kishan has been sent to open both times this series but a change of position is expected now. He has played extremely well, getting two fifties in a row and has made his case stronger for the WorldCup . However, I feel his true test lies in him batting at 4/5 where he’s expected to bat even in the WorldCup if the fringe injured players of India don’t recover in time. I’d be interested to watch his matchup vs Motie, who dismissed him and he should look to be Aggresive against the left arm spinner.
India’s bowling has lacked the bite and in an otherwise average pace troika, the role of Umran must be magnified. He needs to make his case count and land some blows to the WI batters, who have managed to counter him nicely so far with Hope, in particular, finding a sweet spot against the express pace bowler from Kashmir.
*MY PREDICTIONS:*
*FOR WI:*
Highest run getter- Shai Hope/Athanaze
Highest wicket taker- Alzarri Joseph/Motie
*FOR IND:*
Highest run getter- Rohit Sharma/Ishan Kishan
Highest wicket taker- Kuldeep Yadav/Umran Malik
*FOR THIS GAME:*
India to win