India v West Indies 4th ODI: Only Pride To Play For West Indies

When India play the West Indies in the fourth ODI of the series at the North Sound in Antigua on Monday, one side would be playing for pride and the other, in a bid to go for a clean sweep. Despite having a second-string side, the Indians lead 3-0 after their comeback-from-behind win in the third game and West Indies will look to overcome their inability to finish games off.

India have been far superior, despite being shorn of the main guys but West Indies came close to winning one in the third match. Andre Russell played a blinder to resurrect the home side and then played a part in reducing India to 92 for six before a rather familiar inability to shut out the opposition played havoc.

Of course, Chris Gayle continues to remain excluded and that will mean that Lendl Simmons will need to try hard to convert his starts. Ramnaresh Sarwan has looked good too but West Indies’ issue has been their inability to be consistent throughout their batting.

And the same set of woes repeat themselves in the bowling as well, something that was evident throughout the Rohit Sharma-Harbhajan Singh stand last game.

With the series in the bag, the Indians could look at changing a few things around but would also do well to remember a couple of things. One, this is already a second-string side they are playing. And secondly, the West Indian side have been running them reasonably close – resting of one or more main guys could push them back.

That said, someone like a Munaf Patel deserves a break. He has been playing non-stop for long enough and the break could do him no harm before the Tests begin. Again, the form of Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t enthralled and Manoj Tiwary could be tried out as well.

The Indian bowling, especially the spinners, will remain the same. However, given the manner in which the West Indians have played spin, it may do no harm in trying out a third slow bowler in place of Munaf – R Ashwin.

The fourth ODI between India and West Indies will be played at Antigua on Monday, June 13 and will start at 9.00 am local time or 1800 hours Indian time.