India Eye Series Win in Greenfield Debut

Thiruvananthapuram: India play West Indies in the fifth ODI at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

After losing the third ODI in Pune, India came back strongly to beat West Indies by 224 runs in the fourth ODI in Mumbai and lead the series 2-1.

India go into the final ODI on Thursday eyeing another home series triumph against the West Indies, a far cry from the dominant force it was when Thiruvananthapuram last hosted a 50-over international three decades ago.

A victory in the fifth and penultimate One-day International will ensure India maintain their unbeaten run since the reverse against South Africa in 2015.

Virat Kohli's men bounced back from the loss in the third match at Pune to record massive 224-run win at Mumbai.

The home team will hope to carry the momentum into the series decider in the Southern city.

While Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been in superlative form, scoring three and two centuries respectively, Ambati Rayudu, backed by the skipper, has also been among the runs.

The return of Jasprit Bumrah has added value to the Indian team and he proved his worth in the two games he has played while the young Khaleel Ahmed showed he's learning with an impressive spell at the Brabourne Stadium.

The visitors, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold in the one-dayers after being routed in the Tests.

Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope have impressed the most, having logged a century each while underlining their abilities. Captain Holder has shown he can handle the Indian spinners pretty well but the other batsmen have not covered themselves with glory.

The participation of off-spinner Ashley Nurse, who has been a consistent performer, is in doubt after he suffered an injury during the Mumbai game. His absence could affect the hopes of the Windies in the all-important game.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah, Lokesh Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey

Windies: Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kieran Powell, Shai Hope (wk), Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder (Capt.), Fabian Allen, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Kemar Roach, Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas

Pitch and condition
The weather is expected to play a part with showers predicted.

Stats and trivia

• No side has beaten India twice in a home ODI series since October 2016.
• Dhoni needs one run to become the fifth player to score 10,000 ODI runs for India after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs two wickets to 100 scalps in ODIs.

Match facts
Thursday 01 November 2018
Start time: 13:30 local (0800 GMT)