The West Indies cricketers will today oppose India in the Himalayan mountain, 4,780 feet above sea level. The Caribbean men would be foreign to contains like this, especially given the fact that the temperature is expected to drop as low as 15 degrees Celsius in the evening.
With the Micromax series locked at one game apiece, Dwayne Bravo's men will have to put everything behind them and get back to winning ways. A win against India in this day/night encounter would ensure that they don't lose the series. West Indies won the opening game by 124 runs and India rebounded with a 48-run win in the second encounter. The third game in Visakhapatnam was washed out, leaving just this clash and the final one in Kolkata on October 20 to be played.
Yesterday, while the Indians trained, the West Indies decided against doing so, as they braved the hilly terrain and arrived in Dharamshala at lunch time. They had a scheduled training session at 6 pm but it was optional and due to their late arrival they did not train.
Spinner Nikita Miller had been added to the team and is on his way from Sri Lanka. More than likely he would not be ready for this game. Manager of the team Richie Richardson said the team is looking forward to producing at this wonderful venue. "When I arrived here I was so excited at how the place looked, I wish I was playing still. The team is ready for action, we are here to win cricket matches, we have spoken about where we have fell down and we are going to focus on playing well. We have so far dominated for 180 overs of this series and played badly in 20' so there is something to work with there."
Meanwhile, Indian batsmen Virat Kohli speaking at the pre match press conference said: "I felt good during my last innings and I am going to look to continue in that same way here. We know what to expect from the Dharamshala pitch and batsmen should enjoy batting here.
"This is a very important clash for us and we are looking forward to playing good cricket here and taking the lead in this series. The West Indies have obviously sat and looked at our team and they will be coming with their plan."
Yesterday, while the rest of the Indian team retired to the dressing room after a light work out, Kohli was seen doing extra work on his fielding. "Cricket is a mental game and once you are feeling good mentally, your technique does not come into question. I am feeling good and while I was struggling a bit I saw a part of my game that needed work and I have worked in two camps over the past two weeks correcting the flaw. I feel good mentally and I'm really looking forward to this clash against the West Indies."
The Dalai Lama will meet the players before the start of the game. The Tibetan ruler lives a stone's throw away from the ground at McLeod Ganj and is expected to be at thground for 2pm today.
match zone
TIME: 2.30 pm Indian time, 5 am. TT time.
TEAMS:
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo (Captain), Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Leon Johnson, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Nikita Miller, Dwayne Smith and Jerome Taylor.
India: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Akshar Patel, Umesh Yadav, M Vijay an Kuldeep Yadav.
PITCH: This pitch is expected to be lively with the ball expected to come on nicely unto the bat. Batsmen are likely to get great value for their shots, while the bowlers will get good bounce and pace off it.
WEATHER: There is rain around and is predicted to come down today. The head of the HPCA Anurag Thakur took to the Indru-nag temple last evening to pray to the God of rain and snakes to prevent any obstacles for today's match.
HEAD TO HEAD AT DHARAMSHALA: The West Indies have never met India at this venue. In fact this is the second ODI, to be ever played at this ground, the first was India against England in January 2013.
FAN VIEW: Virat Kohli is a Demi God here and the fans have been singing his praises here. He scored a half century in the Delhi win and the expectations here are that he is going to give them something special. Yesterday when he arrived at the ground, the fans were yelling his name and he said he was anxious to continue his run scoring, reminding that fans that he is not a machine.