West Indies vs India, 3rd ODI at St Lucia - Preview

St Lucia: India will be looking to edge closer to a rare One-Day International series victory against the West Indies in the
Caribbean before embarking on a well-earned break from the game.

They face West Indies in the last two ODIs of four this coming Friday and Sunday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.

India and West Indies shared the first two ODIs last Friday and Sunday at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

The visitors won the opening fixture by 20 runs, and the home team rebounded two days later to secure the second ODI by eight wickets.

On their five previous trips to the Caribbean in bilateral ODI series, India have only once overcome West Indies, and this was 2-1 in a three-match contest seven years ago.

But Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side has a couple of other reasons why they will feel the pressure in the next few days.

Their early exit from the Twenty20 World Cup in England a few weeks ago is still uppermost in their minds, as well as their fans who can be quite demanding, and do not take losing easily.

Dhoni has also identified banishing the demons of India's early exit from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean as another objective that will motivate his side.

In both matches, India have looked a below-par version of the side that before coming to the Caribbean had lost only three of their previous 18 matches, and had climbed to No.3 in the ODI World rankings.

They allowed West Indies to get within sight of a challenging victory target of 340 in the first ODI, and then suffered a batting meltdown in the second ODI as their age-old susceptibility to short-pitched and swing bowling were again exposed.

Yuvraj Singh looks to be the only batsman in touch as was evident from his 131 in the first ODI, and some of the strokes he played in his all-too-brief 35 in the second ODI.

Dhoni made 95 in the second match, but he too, has not cut the picture of the commanding figure at the crease that he is known to be.

Questions about fatigue will continue to preoccupy the discussions about India's performance, but they can silence all of the debate with two commanding victories in the next few days.

West Indies will look to repeat their show of force from Sunday at Kingston in the last two matches.

They have named an unchanged squad for the two matches, much to the disappointment of St. Lucians, who were hoping to catch a glimpse of local cricket hero Darren Sammy.

West Indies have won five of the 10 matches they have contested at the ground, and one has finished in a no-result, but they'll be hoping to improve this record.

They would also hope that the Beausejour pitch is not typically easy-paced, so they can again exploit India's meekness against pace, bounce and movement.

Team information:

India: Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma: With an average of 25.33 in 39 ODIs, there is plenty of room for improvement for Rohit in the ODI format. Another failure at No.3 tomorrow is something he can ill afford after scores of 4 and 0 in the series so far. Gambhir has had a satisfactory year, averaging 38.80, but his weakness against the short ball was exposed in the ICC World Twenty20, and in the first game by Jerome Taylor. The pair will do well to deliver when it matters tomorrow to boost India's chances of a series win.

Ravindra Jadeja had an impressive ODI debut, making an unbeaten 60 against Sri Lanka but has failed in this series, getting dismissed in an identical manner on both occasions. He was out first ball in the first game, playing away from his body and edging to the keeper, and managed just 7 in the second with his team in trouble. He could be left out of the next game for allrounder Abhishek Nayar to make his international debut.

Squad (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Subramaniam Badrinath, Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma.

West Indies: West Indies' pace attack: Each of West Indies' pace bowlers bagged wickets in the eight-wicket rout in Kingston, using swing and variations to unsettle the Indian batsmen. Taylor was the best among them, Rampaul was the surprise package and Bravo bowled a scorcher to get rid of Yusuf Pathan. They made the best use of favourable conditions while India were batting, and if they are offered anything similar at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, India's batsmen are up for another serious challenge.

Squad (from): Chris Gayle (c.), Denesh Ramdin (vc & wk), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard Jr, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Runako Morton, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have played nine games at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, winning five and losing four. India are yet to play a game at this venue.
• West Indies' eight-wicket victory in Kingston was their biggest against India in terms of balls remaining after winning. They won with 95 balls to spare, bettering their effort in Port of Spain 20 years earlier, where they had won with 68 balls left.
• MS Dhoni and RP Singh's stand of 101 is the fourth-highest for the ninth wicket in ODIs, and the third-highest for India.
• The average score while batting first in St Lucia is 243. The side batting first has won on seven occasions and lost nine. The highest score at the venue is 363, by New Zealand against Canada in the 2007 World Cup. The lowest is 146, by West Indies against England earlier this year.

Match fact:
Friday July 03, 2009
Start time: 09:30 local, 13:30 GMT, 19:00 IST

Highlights of the match