Licking the wounds of yet another series
defeat, India's struggling cricketers will
seek to restore some pride when they go
into the last one-dayer against arch rivals
Pakistan here on Sunday with their
captain M S Dhoni being a doubtful starter
because of a sore back.
The collective failure of the top order
batsmen even in home conditions has
hurt the team badly in recent times and
the hosts will need a huge spark of
inspiration to prevent the spirited
Pakistanis from achieving a 3-0 clean
sweep.
Dhoni's injury has compounded India's
misery and the team management will
wait till Sunday before taking a final
decision on his availability for the match.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has
been called up as a back-up.
"If at all somebody is doubtful, it's me. I
have a sore back and we have called
Dinesh Karthik as back up", Dhoni said.
Yuvraj Singh also skipped the practice
session but Dhoni made it clear that
there were no injury problems with him.
"Since it was an optional practice session,
Yuvraj did not come," he said.
Clearly, the pressure will be on the
Indians who have been plagued by an
inexplicable form slump of their star
batsmen while the limited and
inexperienced bowling resources have
compounded the misery for the hosts
who have now sunk to a new low with
the recent debacles.
With the series already out of their grasp,
the Indians may experiment by giving a
chance to some of their bench players but
whether they can change the team's
sliding fortunes remains to be seen in a
day-night game which will start at noon to
neutralise the dew factor.
Dhoni, in good form with the bat, has
been at a loss to explain the repeated
failures and there have been suggestions
that he should promote himself up the
order considering the poor form of the
top half.
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