Having won two of their first two matches of the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, India have climbed to the fifth position in the ICC Women’s Championship while the West Indies are at No 4. The rankings from the Championship have a bearing on direct qualification to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, 2017. While India will look forward to make it 3-0, West Indies who will be playing the last match of their Championship, will be keen to win in order to strengthen their position in the points table. Looking forward to the third ODI, captain Mithali Raj said, “I definitely would want India to win the game and have a clean sweep in the one-day series because it is a huge thing to win a home series, and that to a clean sweep against the West Indies. It will also give a lot of boost to the team and the players before we embark into the qualifiers. It is very important that we don’t let it go and since we are 2-0 up, we should make it 3-0.” Speaking about the opposition who are likely to come back hard especially given their precarious position in the points table, she said, “I assume that West Indies need two more points to qualify directly into the World Cup (2017) so they definitely would want those two points. They will come very hard at us tomorrow as it is the last game and we will try and see that we don’t give them those points. They are a side who wouldn’t give it up easily. This is an international cricket and any team wouldn’t want to lose easily, so we probably would need to work harder than the last two games because it is going to be a tough contest.” While the team has chased down totals in the both the matches so far, the batting has depended heavily on the skipper. Speaking about the situation, Mithali said, “It has been for years that the team has depended on me, and I have always said that there are two sides to it; one that definitely you feel nice that the team depends on you, but the flip side to it is that me as a player never really had a window to explore my options. But then again when you play for India you keep aside your personal ambitions. Of late, I have tried and groomed players who have come into bat along with me so tomorrow when I look up to them to support me in the crucial matches they don’t let me down.” Among others, there have been players who have been stepping up like Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the spin department, Veda Krishnamurthy as a middle-order bat and Deepti Sharma. Allrounder Sharma contributed to a third-wicket stand to lay the foundation for the chase in the second game and had earlier been the most economical of the bowlers while restricting the opposition. Speaking about the youngster, the captain said, “She is a young player and all she needs to be told is where to bowl and how to pace her innings. She is a very good learner and these are the matches where if you give them an opportunity, it will boost their confidence. The total wasn’t very big where the pressure might add up on a youngster so it probably had eased her out. It is important that she tries and gains all the confidence and turn into a match winner maybe in the coming years, where we will get to see more of Deepti Sharma as a true all-rounder.”