For the much-anticipated third and final ODI match of the India-West Indies series, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field first at Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium, on Sunday. The match is an important one for the teams. As the series is levelled at 1-1, both the captains (Virat Kohli and Kieron Pollard) would be playing for nothing but a win as a series win is on the cards.
“We played against England at a similar time here and defending 380 was a challenge,” the Indian skipper said at the toss.
“So many teams keep discussing tosses. Our focus is on the larger picture. It’s about having the right attitude. Toss gives you an advantage, yes, but that doesn’t mean we’ll still win if we play reckless cricket. It’s also good to see how we’ve responded when we’ve lost tosses too,” he added.
On the other hand, Kieron Pollard did not seem to be bothered about not winning the toss. “Matter of setting up the game and laying the foundation,” he said.
India have won the toss and elected to bowl against West Indies in the series-decider. #INDvWI #TeamIndia @paytm pic.twitter.com/WmlaKIKXQl
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 22, 2019
While India made just one change in their team, replacing injured Deepak Chahar with debutant Navdeep Saini, West Indies remain unchanged for the final ODI.
We have a debutant in the house! Navdeep Saini will make his ODI debut in Cuttack. 👏👏#INDvWI #TeamIndia @paytm pic.twitter.com/jaEA6PVe7x
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 22, 2019
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (Captain), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini
West Indies: Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard (Captain), Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Alzarri Joseph, Khary Pierre, Sheldon Cottrell