*** West Indies vs India *** 3rd and final Test Live

July 6-10, Dominica
Start time 1000 (1400 GMT, 1930 IST)

Brief as per cricinf....

MS Dhoni has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. His comment on umpiring standards in the first Test may have hastened Daryl Harper's retirement. Dhoni's batting has been an advertisement for shoddy shot-selection, and his drop of Carlton Baugh in the final session in Barbados potentially cost India a win. To make matters worse, his bowlers maintained such poor over-rates that he is now one infringement away from a match ban. His captaincy has, however, remained sharp judging by his field settings and the enterprising declaration in Barbados. Can Dhoni make a significant contribution as a player in Dominica?

Ravi Rampaul may not have the natural talent of the men who set the Caribbean ablaze in the 1980s, but he has heart and discipline - both crucial ingredients for a side seeking a revival. Rampaul's skidding action combines well with his tendency to whip the ball in, short of a length, almost inevitably on the seam. In his last four Tests, he has struck in his first over in four innings, a stat that makes him a nightmare for top-order batsmen.

The doosra is a thing of the past. The floater he mastered in the pre-doosra years has fizzled into a poorly disguised topspinner that doesn't trouble set batsmen. The bounce is sporadic, the flight and loop conspicuous by their absence, the turn is not sharp and the drift is harmless in the absence of the other factors. After 95 Tests, and in his 14th year of international cricket, Harbhajan Singh finds himself stuck in a dangerous cycle of under-achievement, perhaps ushered in by over-exposure to the shorter formats. He has the tenacity to rediscover his magic, but the first step to redemption will be admitting that he is in a slump. Does Harbhajan have it in him to confront reality?

Team news
Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were involved in a minor collision while playing football in a training session, but both should be fit to play. Dhoni has a few tricky decisions to make ahead of the toss. Abhimanyu Mithun's honest but underwhelming effort in Barbados, coupled with the over-rate threat, could tempt him to bring legspinner Amit Mishra back, unless the pitch is unduly grassy. M Vijay and Virat Kohli have had poor series, and have subsequently lost their spots for the England tour. Will they be motivated enough to perform in the decider? Or will India be better served using Parthiv Patel and S Badrinath, who will be fresh, and eager to prove a point since they aren't in the England squad either?

India (probable): 1 Abhinav Mukund, 2 M Vijay, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Virat Kohli / S Badrinath, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Abhimanyu Mithun / Amit Mishra

With their new-ball pair working so well, West Indies may once again choose to bench Kemar Roach. Kieran Powell will make his Test debut at the pivotal No. 3 spot, but he can do no worse than the disastrously out of form Sarwan, whose place he takes.

West Indies (probable): 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Marlon Samuels, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Fidel Edwards / Kemar Roach, 11 Devendra Bishoo

Pitch and conditions
The Windsor Park at Roseau, Dominica, is set to become Test cricket's 106th venue. It has been more than a year since the ground hosted the last of its four ODIs - a high-scoring thriller involving South Africa and West Indies. The more accessible - and given the happenings in Barbados, more crucial - variable is the weather, and the forecasts aren't promising: showers are predicted on each of the five days of the Test. The curator, though, says the ground has excellent drainage facilities.

The curator and West Indies captain Darren Sammy have both said there will be bounce in the pitch. "There is some moisture and that should help the faster bowlers early on," Sammy said. "Normally, it turns later on in the match, so both the pacers and spinners can expect some help."

There was a four-day match played at the venue between England Lions and Windward Islands in March in which two left-arm spinners - Gary Mathurin of the hosts and Danny Briggs of the visitors - shared 19 of the 39 wickets to fall in the match. The seamers got carry and bounce from the pitch in that match, which produced a result early on the fourth day.


Your comments.....

India have won the toss and elected to field - the Windies are 6/0 after 3.2 overs.

I think the call on Simmons was a harsh one. Yes he's not in the best of touch, but he has been the one consistent batsman for WI during the ODI series. Thought he deserved this series at least. His replacement Edwards, in the given opportunities, did nothing of note.

Doesn't seem the pitch is as tough as the other 2 were for the batsman. almost 5 overs, the WI batters haven't faced many unplayable balls as yet.

PK strikes for India, the debutant Kieran Powell gone.
Its going to be a stern test for PK here. The pitch isn't offering that much help to the bowlers. If PK can overcome his lack of pace here and get a few wickets, then I think He'll get ahead of Sreesanth and Munaf in the pecking order, behind Zak and Ishant.

Ishant among the wickets, but a dreadful shot from Barath. WI already 2 down on a decent track.

Kirk Edwards continues to fail, another one for Ishant, but this time around the batsman was unlucky, although it was a pretty good bouncer.

Oh No! Rain!Not Again!

im suprised windies left out lendl simmons

Think Dhoni got it wrong with the call at the toss, but so far, West Indies have done everything to atone for his mistake.
Ishant Sharma and Praveen and even Munaf Patel bowled well, Harbhajan, as has been the case in recent history, has been awful. When are they going to tell him enough is enough?

msp83 wrote:Think Dhoni got it wrong with the call at the toss, but so far, West Indies have done everything to atone for his mistake.
Ishant Sharma and Praveen and even Munaf Patel bowled well, Harbhajan, as has been the case in recent history, has been awful. When are they going to tell him enough is enough?

make him seat and watch Ind Eng play later this month.

Hopefully Harbhajan's passport gets 'misplaced' and he can't travel to England lol

Masked Magician wrote:Hopefully Harbhajan's passport gets 'misplaced' and he can't travel to England lol

Thank you for your amazing contribution to the debate

Masked Magician wrote:Hopefully Harbhajan's passport gets 'misplaced' and he can't travel to England lol

what a ridiclious comment

Harbhajan continues to be pretty average yet again. Is anybody who matters taking note?

Anyways Bravo goes, another one for Ishant, WI 6 down.

Dhoni got the call at the toss not quite wright, but he again managed to squeeze the WI batters into indiscretions.

Baugh, after the Pakistan series and the ODIs against India have decided attack is the best form of defense , and it seems that move is paying off well here. an enterprising 50 for him. the WI need him to carry on for many more though.

Harbhajan's back into the attack, and he's getting some sharp turn at times. Will he make use of it? Or young Devendra Bishoo, inexperienced, against good players of spin, continue to outbowl him?

Baugh had his struggle of his life against Ajmal or anyone else who bowled spin, but he's playing Harbhajan like Tendulkar did to Warne.

Sammy and Baugh trying to counterattack. West Indies have to post a decent score on this track,don't think Indian batting will have so many dificulties of the kind they had in the other 2 matches.

Can Dhoni bring his wicket taking spinner Suresh Raina into the attack?

The pitch is very flat and it shows how well the Indians bowled before Baugh started slogging (I'm Wet Indian but dislike Baugh)

India will fancy getting 400+

another 5fer for Ishant, now he has 2 in 2. And Harbhajan got to 400. will this at least make him reflect about his bowling a bit? Looks like Kapil in his last years, rather listless.

Rain is around hopefully it will stay away.
The Indian bowling was quite good on a track that didn't offer any extraordinary help. Now its time for an underperforming batting to shut the WI out of this match.

More bad news for the WI, Ravi Rampaul, their best bowler in recent months, has gone to the hospital with some problem.

Ind 8/0..

Good to see Bhajji reaching 400+ wickets landmark

Oh NO! that rain again!
Just when I was settling down!

No luck, its the stupid rain again!.

gonna be a very tough day for windies, with rampaul still at the hotel..

123/3..
Mukund gone for 62...Kohli in

India 104 ahead after day 3

50s for Mukund, Laxman, Raina and Dhoni (still going strong on 65no)

Windies tried hard but one bowler short was all ways a bridge too far.

Fidel, Bishoo and Sammy gave their all and where spent going into the final session.

India will look to power on tomorrow an declare at lunch.

Good day of test cricket, good batting from young Abhinav, VVS, Raina and Dhoni. typicaly sharp, hostile bowling from Fidel Edwards, commited, honest effort from Darren Sammy, freakish wicket for Chanders, and thankfully, no rain.

The Indian captain got runs, just when the team badly needed. at 172-5, it was very important that the captain stood up and got a few.
Raina again got runs, and now that number 6 position should belong to him at the beginning of the England series regardless of the presence of the rejuvenated Yuvraj Singh.

104 runs lead not bad....Hope they can add another 150 or so today and put WI straight to bat...
Don't like this rain messing with the test

India didn't add much, but WI already 2 down, and still behind by 117.
If the weather stays good, WI will have a struggle at their hands to save this one.

WI lost 3 already, and still behind by 70. Harbhajan is bowling a touch better this time around, giving the ball some air, and keeping it slower. therefore he has managed to go pass the bat at times.

After his 7 wicket performance in SA, Harbhajan rememberrs his attacking self as a bowler for the first time. He just have the one wicket to show for that so far, but on another day he would have had many more.

Harbhajan does easily frustrated now a days, if he doesn't get wickets quickly, he soon goes bak to the defensive mode.

Raina has had a go, but remarkable fightback from the West Indies. Kirk Edwards has had his share of trouble with the short ball, but now he is playing well. Think Dhoni should bring Harbhajan back on.

mukund bowling

some awful umpiring this series. That and the rain kinda ruined it for me.

GG wrote:some awful umpiring this series. That and the rain kinda ruined it for me.

Take out Harper and his blunders, and I think the umpiring has been of a pretty good standard. Just one glaring error in the second test, and that was not by the umpire (who made the right call initially and then had to reverse his decision), but by the purveyors of technology. Just one more in this test, so far; quite acceptable IMHO, when you consider that they got quite a few tight calls right.

Harper, perfectly in turn with his recent record, was terrible, otherwise, the umpiring standards, touchwood, has been of a pretty high quality.

The West Indies batters did a much better job this time around, but the Indian bowlers stuck to their task, and unlike in all previous innings, Harbhajan Singh did really step up. so despite a debut 100 from Kirk Edwards, and a chancy, but fighting knock from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies still find themselves in deep trouble.

great knock from kirk edwards, samuels was very unlucky though

WI lead by 81 runs...

If Ind can clean up the WI tail enders by lunch....and restrict WI to 300 at most, they can easily clinch this test...

Hope and pray the rain don't spoil this final test...

256/8....

Chanderpaul with another fine hundred vs his favorite opposition.

india cruising here.

cricketfan90 wrote:india cruising here.

Not to victory,
as Indians may claim to be #1 test side, but lack guts to reduce the oppostion to a smaller total, not only that, India lack guts to score the given target by the opposition too, as its only one more hour play left, already score 86-3.