India has to sort out their batting troubles when they take on the West Indies for the fourth ODI on Thursday. Windies had competed well against the stronger and more imaginary hosts in the first two matches that they lost at Cuttack and Vishakapatnam, but the success in the must-win Ahmedabad match has lift their sagging spirits on the tour where very little has gone right for them.
The much-vaunted Indian batting line-up would definitely be wary of the dangers posed by the varied Windies attack after the way they folded up in the Motera Stadium. Rohit Sharma played a lone dominant hand among the front-line batsmen and has been the fortification of this batting order that is lacking the presence of key players Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni - both rested - and the indisposed Yuvraj Singh.
The biggest flops have been the Delhi duo of Virender Sehwag, who is leading the squad in the absence of Dhoni, and Gautam Gambhir, the stage well below par in the three games. Both were dismissed shockingly for first-ball ducks by West Indies` pacer Ravi Rampaul who has made a big impact with both the bat and the ball in the rubber.
Sehwag and Gambhir need to pull up their act and come out with bigger charity for India to take an unassailable lead and clinch their second ODI series in a row after the 5-0 whitewash of England.
The bowling too did not exactly set the Sabarmati River on fire with the likes of Umesh Yadav and Abhimanyu Mithun having been carted around by West Indian captain Darren Sammy and Andre Russell. The old penchant of the Indian bowling attack to grant big runs to the lower order after packing off the top has resurfaced in this series.
Yadav has been given a break for the last two games and Irfan Pathan, who had been in the international wilderness for nearly two and a half years, brought into the squad and his enclosure in the playing 11 would give the right-oriented pace attack a bit more variety.
The Baroda man`s presence, who has been rewarded for some consistent display in Ranji Trophy this season, would also add meat and experience to the line-up with his ability as a power-hitting left-handed floater in the batting order.
It would be difficult for me to say whether it`s more of contentment or relief, but I would like to make full use of the occasion available. Not many people get a chance to represent the country and I have been fortunate enough to do that and, God willing, would like to symbolize my country for a long time, he has said.
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