What

The final Group game of the 2011 ICC World Cup will be played between India and West Indies. The match is a Day/Night affair.

When

March 20, 2011. The game begins at 2:30 pm, IST.

Where

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. Historically, the wicket at Chepauk has favoured spinners with Narendra Hirwani’s 16 wickets on Test debut in 1988 against West Indies drawing immediate reference whenever this venue is mentioned. More recently, at the 2011 ICC World Cup, games between England and South Africa and England and West Indies have seen spinners dominate proceedings.

The Teams

If in their first few games it was the bowling combination that drew criticism, then in their last game against South Africa it was the manner in which the batting middle-order imploded that became a cause of concern. However, it is doubtful that MS Dhoni will bring in Suresh Raina in place of either Virat Kohli or Yusuf Pathan based on that one disappointing outing. But with the wicket expected to take generous turn, R Ashwin is bound to get a spot in place of one of the pacers, ahead of Piyush Chawla.

West Indies have crushed the minnows of their Group – Netherlands, Bangladesh and Ireland - in style. But they have failed to muster wins against the big guns – South Africa and West Indies. What is particularly worrying for the Caribbean side is that against both sides, they were in good positions for vast amounts of the game. Yet, the manner of their eventual surrender would have put the team’s self-belief ahead of a big game against India under tremendous doubt.

What’s at stake?

Depending on the result of the South Africa versus Bangladesh game, a spot in the quarter-final. If South Africa beat Bangladesh then both India and West Indies will be through to the next round irrespective of the outcome of their own game. If, however, Bangladesh beat South Africa then West Indies will definitely need to win their game against India to go through to the quarter-final stage. In such a scenario, India should still it make it through to the next round because they have a better net run-rate compared to England, with whom they will be tied at seven points.

However, India would be keen to win this game not only because it would silence their critics but also because a win here would allow them to finish among the top two teams in Group B. This would then give them the opportunity to play a weaker qualifier from Group A in the quarter-final.

The squads

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina, S Sreesanth and R Ashwin

West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Devon Smith, Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Devon Thomas (wk), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach, Devendra Bishoo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kirk Edwards, Nikita Miller and Ravi Rampaul