Deadline: August 14, 2019 at 7 PM IST
Venue: Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Pitch report
Virat Kohli did a score a hundred and made batting look ridiculously easy in the second ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval, but the pitch wasn’t easy to bat on. When fours and sixes were hard to come by, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer had to run hard between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Batting first would be sensible, as the average second innings score reads a mere 176.
Match prediction
The last time West Indies won an ODI bilateral series against India was in 2006. But all is not lost for West Indies in the ongoing series.. If they manage to emerge victorious on Wednesday, they will level it 1-1.
India’s win on Sunday was their seventh consecutive win in ODIs at the Queen’s Park Oval. The match prediction, thus, gets easier.
Team combinations
Drafting Keemo Paul at the expense of a pacer will add more depth in West Indies’ batting, especially against quality bowling attack of India. Kemar Roach leaked runs at 7.7, while Oshane Thomas was given only 4 overs due to his indisciplined performance.
Probable XI for West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Jason Holder (c), Carlos Brathwaite, Kemar Roach/Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas/Keemo Paul
India haven’t tested Yuzvendra Chahal yet. He might as well get a nod, replacing Kuldeep Yadav who took 2 for 59 in the second match.
Manish Pandey may continue warming the bench, as India need a sixth bowling option in Kedar Jadhav.
Probable XI for India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav/Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, K Khaleel Ahmed
NOTE: Pick your fantasy cricket team wisely.
Players to watch out for
Of the three wickets Carlos Brathwaite scalped, two included that of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant. He varied his pace to keep the batsmen guessing – something the other pacers failed to implement. That said, he needs to be consistent with his batting. Ever since his breath-taking hundred against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup, he could manage a mere 32 runs in 8 matches.
It was just another day for Virat Kohli to break records. He surpassed Sourav Ganguly’s tally and became the second-highest run-scorer for India. It was his 6th hundred against West Indies – the most by any captain against a team. And he now needs 8 more ODI hundreds to edge past the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been spectacular with his change in pace of late. He trapped Evin Lewis in the first T20I with a knuckleball, and on Sunday, his superior skills fetched him his fourth four-wicket haul. In addition, his fielding skills are getting better day by day: the diving catch off his own bowling to dismiss Roston Chase was the highlight of the match.
Evin Lewis’ both T20I hundreds came against India, suggesting that he likes blasting runs against them. Although he failed in the T20I series, he has bounced back to form with scores of 40* and 65. Given Chris Gayle has not been able to find his feet, Lewis’ form lasts West Indies’ innings longer.
Shreyas Iyer’s performance was commendable. He batted at a strike rate of over 100 despite India being in a spot of bother. He scored 71 off 68, including 5 fours and a six.
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