THE SEVENTH and final match of the one-day international series between the West Indies and India takes place in Vishakhapatnam tonight local time and with the count locked at 3-3, it should be an exciting showdown.The West Indies won the first two matches, India won the third and fourth, the West Indies won the fifth, and India won the sixth to set up the showdown.
In all six matches, the team batting second has triumphed, and both captains, Carl Hooper of the West Indies and Rahul Dravid of India, must be hoping to win the toss so that they can decide when to bat.
Although whoever wins the toss is likely to bat second, it could all depend on the reading of the pitch - especially as far as Hooper is concerned.
If the pitch is similar to those of the first five matches that were all dominated by batsmen, it is almost a safe bet that whoever wins the toss will elect to bat second. If, however, it is more like the sixth and therefore likely to favour spin bowlers, Hooper may prefer to bat first so that his batsmen will not have to bat second against the likes of offspinner Harbhajan Singh and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.
The strength of both teams, however, is batting, in one-day matches most teams prefer to end with their strength, and regardless of the reading of the pitch, the odds are that the winner of the toss will bat second. India won the Test series 2-0.
