India go into the fifth and final ODI against West Indies, knowing if they avoid defeat in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, they will be celebrating their sixth straight bilateral series win at home.
Monday’s convincing 224-run victory means the hosts lead 2-1 and it’s a game the tourists cannot afford to lose if they want to level the series.
Here are the talking points ahead of the crucial clash:
Pressure on MS Dhoni as milestone in sights
The 37-year-old has been nowhere near his best in this series, let alone in 2018. His disappointing 23 runs in Monday’s win means the former skipper has scored just 252 runs in his last 12 innings with his highest score being 42.
You have to go back to December 2017 to when he last scored a half-century – that being 65 in the seven-wicket loss to Sri Lanka. Having been dropped for the T20 squad for their Australia tour as well as the emergence of young wicketkeeper/batsman Rishabh Pant, the signs are there that selectors are willing to drop their most successful captain if he doesn’t produce the goods with the 2019 World Cup looming.
Dhoni enters the game, requiring just a single run to complete 10,000 ODI runs for India. He has accumulated 10,173 runs in the 50-over format but that contains 174 runs which he smashed against the Africa XI when he represented Asia XI in 2007.
Should he get to bat, there’s no better place to silence his critics and hit a fifty or century on his way to a memorable milestone.
Throwback - On this day in 2005, @msdhoni notched his highest ODI score. KaBOOM all the way 💪🏻💥💥😎 pic.twitter.com/UM3B3aTRJy
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2018
Khaleel Ahmed ‘hoping to make the ball talk again’
Remarkably, the 20-year-old only made his ODI debut in September’s Asia Cup in the UAE but has already nine wickets in his five matches so far. Three of those came in Monday’s crushing triumph with the left-arm seamer taking the scalps of Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell.
No surprise that skipper Virat Kohli lauded praise on the youngster by saying: “Khaleel is an exciting talent. If the pitch has something to offer, he can extract something. He bowled in the right areas, not too full, not too short. I’m happy to see him make the ball talk.”
That is exactly what Khaleel will by trying to do come Thursday and given his form of late, there’s every chance he can add to his tally.
Khaleel Ahmedhas had a strong start to his ODI career
The pitch
It will be the first time the Greenfield Stadium will be hosting an ODI with players from both sides, stepping into the unknown of what to expect from the pitch. The series has clearly favoured the batsmen with eight tons scored in the four matches so far and that tally could well be increased.
According to an official, there’s every possibility that a total of 300-plus can be registered with the ‘wicket prepared that will assist batsmen and free stroke-play.”
Yet, the ground has only hosted one first-class match, which came in the beginning of the season. But during a recent practice match, both sides managed to score 200 in a 30-over match which suggests we could well be seeing another high-scoring game.
Defeat is no option for West Indies
Before a ball was even bowled in the series, the Caribbean side had their task cut out with the absence of key stars. But Jason Holder’s men have defied expectations to push Kohli’s side all the way.
Shai Hope, Holder, Shimron Hetmyer are among those to stand out with the bat and ball and the skipper will be proud of how they have played during the series. The Windies know that nothing but a victory will do to tie the series.
Based on the previous performances barring the fourth ODI, the tourists are more than capable of upsetting the home crowd and salvage a draw – something few people would have predicted before the series.
