India women unchanged as West Indies bowl first in the series decider

West Indies won the toss and decided to bowl first in the series decider against India on December 19 (Thursday). After India dominated the West Indies and won the first game with ease, the second game was won by the women in maroon. 

The visitors didn’t play like a foreign team and dominated India with the ball and the bat massively. Only skipper Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh showed some fight with the bat. Indian bowlers were listless and taken to the cleaners. 

Dew will be a factor just like we saw in the second match where it became really tough to bowl with the wet ball after the 6th-7th over in the second innings. 

India remain unchanged in this game. Full-time skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s knee niggle seems is still troubling her, and she won’t be a part of the game, considering there’s a three-match ODI series to follow right after this. 

Meanwhile, the Windies made just one change in their XI. Aaliyah Alleyne came in place of offie Ashminj Munisar.

With the same surface being used in the series, expect a lot of runs yet again, as the West Indies batting lineup is full of power hitters. India would expect a repeat of the batting performance in the first match, where they easily crossed 190. However, since it would be the third game on the surface in the space of a week, the pitch might just be a touch slow. 

Playing XIs

India women: Smriti Mandhana (C), Uma Chetry, Jemimah Rodrigues, Raghvi Bist, Richa Ghosh (WK), Sajana S, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Saima Thakor, Titas Sadhu, Renuka Singh Thakur. 

West Indies women: Hayley Matthews (C), Qiana Joseph, Shemaine Campbelle (WK), Deandra Dottin, Chinelle Henry, Nerissa Crafton, Shabika Gajnabi, Zaida James, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack, Aaliyah Alleyne (In for Ashmini Munisar). 

Skippers speak

Smriti Mandhana: We would've loved to bowl first as well, toss is never in your hands, we have to go out there and bat really well. With dew in play, 185+ is always a good score. Having said that, we'll be ready to do whatever it takes to get the win on the board today. Very young team this one, lot of fresh faces around, whatever opportunities they've got, they've looked really positive. They've shown intent and shown a positive attitude. We have the same XI. 

Hayley Matthews: We're going to bowl first, feel like we've done that pretty alright, conditions have been nice. We just spoke about execution. We've always had really good plans, just didn't get going in the first match, had some conversations and executed a lot better in the second match. We have one change, Alleyne comes in for Munisar. Alleyne adds a bit more depth to our lineup, she's been one of our key all-rounders. 

Pitch Report

Shibani Bhaskar informed that the strip that was used for the first two games is in play today. There is some grass and no real deterioration has taken place. The pitch, in general, looks fantastic and if it is marginally slower than the first two games, 165-170 could be winnable total.