Dhawan, Pant face the heat

Port of Spain, August 13

Opener Shikhar Dhawan would be desperate for a big knock after four consecutive failures as India eye another series victory when they clash with West Indies in the third and final ODI here tomorrow.

With scores of 1, 23, 3 in the T20I series and a single digit score of 2 in the second ODI, Dhawan’s comeback after injury has been far from ideal. Troubled by incoming deliveries, Dhawan twice lost his wicket to pacer Sheldon Cottrell. Since Dhawan is not part of the Test squad, the Delhi left-hander would like to finish the Caribbean assignment on a high tomorrow.

Iyer at No. 4

There is another mini-battle brewing in the Indian batting line-up for the No. 4 slot with Shreyas Iyer putting tremendous pressure on Rishabh Pant. Pant has enjoyed the backing of the team management, especially skipper Virat Kohli, but his repeated failures and Iyer’s 68-ball 71 in the second ODI have changed equations.

Although teams don’t prefer changing their winning combinations, Kohli might give Navdeep Saini a run in the last ODI by resting Shami. 

West Indies, on the other hand, would be desperate to save the series with a win. After the final ODI, the two teams will battle in a two-match Test series, starting on August 22 at North Sound, Antigua.  — PTI    

1460 Runs by Shai Hope in 28 ODIs at an average of 66.36 from 2018 to the start of the ODI World Cup. More than half those runs came in just eight innings, while opening the batting. At the World Cup, where he batted mostly at No. 3, Hope scored just 274 runs at an average of 34.25

860 Runs at an average of 95.55 with a strike rate of 92.47 opener for Shai Hope. At any other position, his 1672 runs have come at an average of 38.00, with a strike rate of 69.00

15 Wickets in five innings for Bhuvneshwar Kumar at Queen’s Park Oval with a bowling average of 6.73 at a strike rate of 14.0 

5 Of the last six completed ODIs here have been won by the teams batting first but the chance of rain might tempt the captains to bat second 

29 Wickets at an average of 32.62 for Kuldeep Yadav in his last 20 ODIs. Prior to that, he had 67 wickets in 33 games at an average of 20.07. With 96 wickets from 53 ODIs, Yadav can break Mohammed Shami’s record (55 matches) for the fastest Indian to 100 ODI wickets