Barabati stadium has enviable track record for Team India
Country has not lost a match in past 16 years
By Our Correspondent
CUTTACK, DEC. 21: India and West Indies players on Saturday spent fair amount of time on the nets ahead the crucial series decider third one-day international tobe played here at Barabati stadium on Sunday.
Team India players led by captain Kohli sweated nearly two hours – from 10 AM to 12 noon, while the members West Indies led by coal Philip Simmons had their practice sessions in the afternoon.
Currently, the series is levelled at 1-1 and the winner of the third encounter will lift the series. Both the captains will be expecting nothing less than a win since a series win is at stake.
In the first ODI at Chennai on December 15, West Indies trounced the hosts by 8 wickets. India made a superb comeback in the second match played on December 18 at Vizag and humbled the visiting team by 107 runs.
“We are going to the series decider with positive vibes and lot of confidence. We are hopeful our top order, like the previous match, will fire with all strength and we will clinch the series,” Shreyas Iyer, India’s new middle order sensation, told reporters at the press conference post the practice session.
Iyer slammed a 32-ball 53 in India’s 107-run win over West Indies in the must-win 2nd ODI.
Philip Simmons, the West Indies coach said, “Though India will have the advantage of home crowd and conditions, our boys will land in the field with winning spirits.”
Going by the track record of Barabati, it appears to be a tough task for West Indies to beat India at the venue in the third match since it is one of those venues where India has a better win percentage.
As per records, India had played their first ODI at this venue way back in 1982 against England. After this, visiting teams came one by one and in most of these matches, India ended up on the winning side.
Of the 16 matches played here, India have won 12 and had lost four. What is quite interesting is that the country has not lost a match at this venue in 16 years. India last lost a match here in 2003 to New Zealand by 4 wickets.
After 2003, India have played against strong opponents like England, West Indies, Australia and Sri Lanka but in all of them it ended up on the winning side. India last played a match at the Barabati Stadium in 2017 against England. The Virat Kohli led Indian team scored 381 runs for the loss of six wickets batting first. Mahindra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh scored hundreds. The visiting team managed to score just 366 runs, allowing India to win the match by 15 runs.
