Antigua: Fresh from a 105-run win, a dominant India will aim to take a 2-0 lead when they face a lacklustre West Indies in the third tie of the five-match One-day International (ODI) series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Friday.
After the wash-out in the opening match, the hosts failed to match the men-in-blue, falling to a massive loss in the second game.
Ahead of the third game, the West Indies strengthened their line-up with the addition of two new batsmen in Kyle Hope and wicketkeeper-batsman Sunil Ambris.
Barring Shai Hope, who struck 81 runs and looked to pull out a fight chasing 311 runs in the previous ODI, none of the other batsmen — Evin Lewis (21), Jason Holder (29), Roston Chase (33 not out) -- succeeded in converting their starts.
Among the bowlers, off-spinner Ashley Nurse managed to test the famed Indian line-up to a certain extent. Nurse returned with figures of 1/38 in his nine-over spell, bowling at an economy of 4.22 runs per over.
Pacer Alzarri Joseph (2/73), Miguel Cummins (1/57) and medium-pacer Jason Holder (1/76) will look to bowl economically after giving away too many runs in the previous match.
On the other hand, the visitors will look to play their natural game, having found it easy to score runs against the hosts.
The batting line-up featuring the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will look to demolish the West Indies bowling.
Skipper Kohli also hinted at including rookie keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant for the third match, which may result in Yuvraj or Dhoni warming the bench.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3/50) tormented the hosts well and will once again be Kohli’s go-to bowler during the middle overs.
Teams
India: Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik.
West Indies: Jason Holder (Captain), Sunil Ambris (WK), Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell.
