da 888： When the first ball of the final match of this four-ODI series is bowledone side will be attempting to answer several questions for itself whilethe other is in a position where there’s little to lose and yet plenty togain
da apostaganha： The Preview by Anand Vasu in Vadodara30-Jan-2007
Yuvraj Singh, coming back from injury, needs crucial time in the middle ahead of the World Cup © Getty Images
When the first ball of the final match of this four-ODI series is bowledone side will be attempting to answer several questions for itself whilethe other is in a position where there’s little to lose and yet plenty togain. India are still trying to find their best possible combination forthe World Cup while West Indies are just looking for a symbolic win – itwould be good to begin their campaign in the big tournament, still sometime away, with a win under the belt.The conditionsThe Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ground has produced some fierypitches in the past, with the ball darting about sharply off the seam anda predominantly mediumpace Vadodara attack, whose home ground this is,making life miserable for visitors. This is not going to be one suchpitch. Despite the intermittent rain, the pitch appears to be afairly typical one-day strip, loaded in the favour of the batsmen. Ifthere’s more rain about there could well be a case for going into the gamewith only one spinner.The personnelWest Indies have, despite going 1-2 down, enjoyed the chance to give theircricketers a run, and some have grabbed the opportunity with both hands.But, going into the final game, they have injury concerns for two vitalplayers – Dwayne Bravo (left shoulder) and Marlon Samuels (left indexfinger). Samuels was taken for precautionary x-rays on the eve of thematch but a final decision on fitness would only be taken on the morningof the match. For India, the four who missed out straightaway were SureshRaina, Gautam Gambhir, Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar.Combination conundrumEven after having narrowed their pool down to twelve, India have some trickydecisions to make before they decide who will carry drinks. Robin Uthappaand Sourav Ganguly will open, with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid tofollow, and Yuvraj Singh, coming back from injury, must play. The factthat India are keen to find out if Irfan Pathan – a key component ofbringing flexibility and balance to the side – is back in good enoughbowling form, means that Dinesh Karthik might just miss out. If Karthik isbenched, then both spinners can play alongside Ajit Agarkar and ZaheerKhan, covering for the eventuality that Pathan’s bowling isn’t up toscratch yet. It would be hard to drop one of the spinners, for Anil Kumbleneeds 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 therecent months, there has been incessant chatter about who has thepsychological edge at what point and whom the momentum was with. WestIndies first had it, winning 4-1 at home, then reinforcing it when India lost to the West Indies inthe Champions Trophy in Ahmedabad. Now India are up 2-1. But, the resultof this series, coming as it does just before the World Cup, means thatthere are few brownie points to win one way or the other. The result ofwhat happened at Vadodara on January 31 will be long forgotten if and whenthe 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), 7Ajit Agarkar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 IrfanPathan, 12 Dinesh Karthik.West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 RunakoMorton, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8Denesh Ramdin, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 Daren Powell, 12 RayadEmritt, 13 Devon Smith, 14 Lendl Simmons.
