India take on West Indies in 3rd ODI with full-strength

Pune: India will face West Indies in the third ODI at Pune on Saturday.

A tie at Visakhapatnam in the second match has enlivened the series that was expected to be lop-sided after India walloped Windies at Guwahati.

After two One-Day Internationals where the bowlers conceded totals in excess of 300+ each time with the pacers in particular going for runs aplenty, both upfront and in the backend, India have sent an SOS to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for the last three ODIs against the Windies.

The duo had been rested from the opening two encounters to manage their workload across formats and with an eye on the Australian tour, but with the Windies batsmen making merry against some listless bowling they have been summoned.

Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Khaleel Ahmed have all been tested but none of them have looked probing enough to be considered as a good seam-bowling option to back up Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar. With Hardik Pandya also not in the side with an injury, India would have hoped for one of the other pacers to stand up but that hasn't happened so far in the series.

For West Indies, the aggressive left-hander Shimron Hetmyer has made a hundred and 94 in two matches and played out the Indian spinners well. He combines brute power with elegance that is natural to left-handers and quite obviously he has reminded many of those West Indian batsmen of a bygone era.

Stuart Law will be back in the dressing room after serving his ban. Will his experience and expertise come to any use and turn around key moments for them remains to be seen.

Also, with spinners unlikely to get much help, Windies might look to drop either of Devendra Bishoo or Ashley Nurse and play four pacers. The visitors may again be slightly torn between picking the extra pace of Oshane Thomas or the variations of Obed McCoy, who had replaced him in the last ODI.

Teams from:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lokesh Rahul, K Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey

Windies: Kieran Powell, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope (wk), Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder (Capt.), Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Devendra Bishoo, Obed McCoy, Sunil Ambris, Fabian Allen, Keemo Paul, Oshane Thomas

Pitch and conditions
The 22-yard trampoline at Pune has often favoured the batsmen and an exception is not expected.

Stats and trivia

• Through the crucial middle stages, between overs 11 and 40, West Indies have only picked up two wickets in the series.
• Shikhar Dhawan is 144 runs away from becoming the fastest Indian to 5000 ODI runs.
• Virat Kohli needs a hundred in the third ODI to equal AB de Villiers's record of scoring hundreds in four consecutive ODI innings in India.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar is four away from becoming the 12th Indian pacer to 100 ODI wickets.

Match facts
Saturday, 27 October 2018
Start time: 13:30 local (08:00 GMT)