What

The third and final Test of the three-match series between West Indies and India

When

July 6–10, 2011. The game begins at 7:30 pm, IST.

Where

Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica. Although Dominica hosted its first One-Day International game in July 2009, this is the first Test match to be played at this venue. In all, Windsor Park has played host to four ODI matches.

The Teams

West Indies did well to challenge India in the second Test. Halfway through the Barbados Test, the hosts had surrendered only an 11-run lead to the visitors. However, having competed with India until then, pressure mounted on the last day of the Test when India managed to get to a score of 269 in the third innings on a difficult Kensington Oval wicket. Nevertheless, having managed to eke out a draw with some stubborn resistance offered by Darren Bravo and Carlton Baugh, the Windies will hope that they can now square the series with India at Dominica.

But for that to happen, the West Indies batting must put on their best performance of the tour so far. Only once in four innings have they posted a score beyond 250 with only Adrian Barath, Marlon Samuels and Bravo having posted half-centuries for the hosts. Ramnaresh Sarwan has been axed for his poor form (29 runs from four innings) but with his replacement, Kieran Powell, yet to play a Test match, a big improvement in the batting is fairly unrealistic.

India, too, have had their struggles, particularly in the batting department. But with Rahul Dravid having bailed them out with a gritty century in the first Test and VVS Laxman finding form in the second, they have managed to stay ahead of their opponents. Suresh Raina, with 174 runs in what has been a low scoring series so far, has also made an impressive contribution. But with the openers having failed to produce anything substantial at the top of the order (partnerships of 15, 0, 1 and 26) and MS Dhoni (23 runs in two Tests) and Virat Kohli (46 runs from four innings) struggling with the bat, the hosts have a chance to put India under pressure at Dominica.

Both teams have done well in the bowling department. But Ishant Sharma’s 16 wickets at a strike-rate of 28.2 have been the difference between the two sides.

Form guide (most recent listed first)

India: Drawn, Won, Drawn, Won, Lost (2 wins, 1 loss)

West Indies: Drawn, Lost, Lost, Won, Drawn (1 win, 2 losses)

Squads

India:MS Dhoni (c & wk), VVS Laxman (vc), Subramaniam Badrinath, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ishant Sharma and Murali Vijay.

West Indies:Darren Sammy (c), Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh (wk), Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Devendra Bishoo, Kirk Edwards, Kemar Roach and Kieran Powell.