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Batsmen again the focus in fifth ODI

Thomas Kutty Abraham

India and West Indies will look to their batsmen to get the edge as they go into Monday's fifth match of their seven-match series level at 2-2.

Batsmen from both sides have made merry on flat pitches where bowlers have struggled. India won the Ahmedabad match on Saturday by achieving the third highest run-chase in one-day history, after West Indies had amassed 324.

The side chasing has emerged victorious so far and Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and his West Indies counterpart Carl Hooper expect the Baroda match to also be high-scoring.

With India's 279 made in the 47-over second game in Nagpur being the lowest of the series, Ganguly felt strategies meant little.

"It is difficult to say what should be the gameplan for one-dayers," he told reporters on Sunday. "In one-dayers, it keeps changing all the time and it also depends on the type of wicket we are playing."

Ganguly said 21-year-old fast bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji would make his India debut, replacing left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra from the 11 who scored a five-wicket victory in Ahmedabad.

He also said he might withdraw from the final two games in Jodhpur and Vijayawada to be with his father, who is set to undergo his second heart bypass operation in England later this month.

"If we win tomorrow I might go but let us see how it goes," he said.

HOOPER CONFIDENT

West Indies skipper Carl Hooper said he was confident of taking the series despite India's sensational win.

"The series is nicely poised," he told reporters.

"We were under no illusion India were not good enough (after going down 0-2). Having said that we are confident we can win the next three games."

But Hooper felt his side could have benefited in their last serious competition before next year's World Cup if the series had been played on sporting pitches.

"In India we could never have hoped for South African conditions. But maybe the wickets could have been more helpful."

"The Indian board has made one-day wickets and they are bound to do that," he said.

West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt said batsman Ryan Hinds has been ruled out of the tour after tearing knee ligaments while fielding in the Ahmedabad match.

The left-hander was discarded after failing in the first two matches of the three-Test series which West Indies lost 2-0.

"We do have some other injury problems about which we will decide later," he added.

Hooper is expected to undergo surgery on a knee injury after this series and will miss the upcoming tour of Bangladesh.

Batsmen Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins also have fitness problems.

Security is expected to be tight in Baroda after crowd trouble marred the first three games.

Teams:

India -
Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Vangipurappu Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Sanjay Bangar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Javagal Srinath, Lakshmipathy Balaji.

West Indies -
Carl Hooper (captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Vasbert Drakes, Ricardo Powell, Cameron Cuffy.

Umpires: Asoka De Silva and Arani Jayaprakash

Match referee: Mike Proctor.

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