India v West Indies Highlights and LIVE 4th ODI Tri-Nation Series 2013
July 5, 2013
India v West Indies LIVE 4th ODI Tri-Nation Series 2013
The Tri Nations One-Day International tournament between West Indies, India and Sri Lanka continues on Friday afternoon as competition hosts West Indies take on India. The Windies are sitting pretty at the top of the table following the first round of matches but it is India who are marginal favourites for this week’s clash at the Queen’s Park Oval in the Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. It is effectively a must-win match for India as they currently prop up the table after taking no points from their opening two games, losing to the West Indies by one wicket and to Sri Lanka by a massive 161 runs. Anything other than victory would leave qualification out of their hands.
In contrast, West Indies are top of the table with nine points after they won their first clash with India following a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka. They are even favourites to win on Friday and all but secure their place in the final, with the top-two teams in the table going on to the tournament’s finale. The West Indies openers have fired at different times during the tournament so far as Johnson Charles hit 97 against India, while Chris Gayle scored a brutal 109 off 100 balls against Sri Lanka. The Windies bowling attack has looked far more effective than it did in England during the Champions Trophy and Darren Sammy has continued to chip in with useful wickets.
India desperately need to win this match as they bid to rediscover the form that saw them win the Champions Trophy in England last month. It has looked as if their exertions in the ODI arena have caught up with them and their cause isn’t helped by the loss of captain MS Dhoni to injury. Furthermore, their opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, which was so effective during the Champions Trophy, have struggled to get going as they are yet to negotiate five overs of an innings together without losing a wicket in the West Indies. Meanwhile, one bowler has stood out for India as Ravi Ashwin has taken three wickets so far and he is the top wicket taker for India. Ashwin’s spin is well suited to the two-paced pitches in the Caribbean, although the Indian batsmen could do with finding some form sooner rather than later.
Suresh Raina has looked in nice touch as he has scored 33 and 44 thus far and there could be a case for moving him up the order. Raina could have a key role to play as the Indians bid to get their first win on the board. It bodes well for Virat Kohli’s men that West Indies have won just two of their last five one-dayers at the Queen’s Park Oval and they have lost their last three in a row at the venue, including successive defeats to India.
Match Timings: July 05, 2013 (09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 19:00 IST)
West Indies (probable) Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo (c), Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Tino Best.
India (probable) Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.
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