• Source:JND
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India took a costly decision to bench the likes of Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma as they suffered an embarrassing defeat in the second ODI against West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Both teams will face off in the third and final ODI of the series as the hosts will be coming out high on confidence, having leveled the series 1-1 in the second game.

The series so far has been a low-scoring one as the visitors bowled out Windies for just 114 runs in the first game and Hardik Pandya-led side was bowled out for 181 runs in the second to give West Indies their first win of the all-format series.

Having lost the two-match Test series 1-0, Windies will be aiming for a better result before heading to the five-match T2OI series.

Indian team is expected to make more experiments as they have been doing throughout the series but considering the final ODI as a series decider they could also go with a strong playing eleven in order to thrash the hosts.

Ishan Kishan who opened the innings in the first two games smashed half-centuries in both ODIs and is expected to continue in the same role in the series decider.

It will be interesting to see where Rohit will bat if he plays in the match with Gill haven't been able to cash in on the opportunities in the first two matches.

Both Rohit and Virat were shuffled down the order in order to provide more game time to other players with the Men in Blue looking for reliable combinations ahead of the Asia Cup and World Cup.

"I think we will always look at the bigger picture. To be very honest with you, at this stage in the cycle with the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, and the injuries we have, we have to look at the big picture. We have to look at things like that. We can't get worried about every single game and every single series. If we do that, I think that will be a mistake", coach Rahul Dravid had said regarding the possible changes in the 3rd ODI.

It will also be an interesting thing to look at the weather conditions in Trinidad as the second Test ended in a draw at the same venue due to persistant rain on the final day of the match.

 

Predicted Playing XIs:


India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik


West Indies: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Dominic Drakes, Yannic Cariah, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales