It's Down to Game Seven

Level with three wins apiece, India and the West Indies have vowed a fight to the finish in the deciding game of their seven-match limited-overs cricket series. The rivals go into Sunday's (Saturday night local time) final one-dayer at Vijaywada expecting another tall-scoring contest and winning the toss will take on more significance than usual.

The team batting second has won all six matches in this series, so the captain who wins the toss Sunday would most likely send the opposition into bat first to gain a psychological edge.

"The contest will put to test which team can score more on a pitch that seems loaded with runs," said India's Rahul Dravid, who has stood in for injured skipper Sourav Ganguly for the last two matches.

Ganguly was recuperating from a strained back in a bid to be fit for next month's tour to New Zealand.
India is also without two other key players - star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan - who were both sidelined with injuries.

Leading India to a three-wicket win in the sixth match at Jodhpur on Thursday, Dravid stretched his all-win captaincy record to three one-dayers spread over two years. Dravid earlier led India twice when Ganguly was undergoing one-match suspensions against Zimbabwe in 2000 and against Sri Lanka in 2001.

West Indies skipper Carl Hooper, set to take a short injury-enforced break after this match, said he was focused on winning the series.

"We want to finish the series on a winning note, that's how we started it in Jamshedpur," said Hooper, adding batsmen would once again call the shots in this match.

Getting on top of the bowlers on placid tracks, the batsmen have dominated this series by piling up huge totals.

Seeking to avenge the 2-1 limited-overs series loss when India toured the Caribbean islands this year, the Windies took a 2-0 lead before India rallied to level at 2-2 as crowd disturbances dominated the headlines.

But Hooper said the squandered opportunities were not weighing on his mind. "We've done well to contest the one-dayers on even terms after losing the three-test series 2-0," Hooper said. "We're hoping for a victory tomorrow, but it will depend on grabbing our chances."

Hooper said a series in India was a tough assignment ahead of the World Cup in southern Africa next year.

After Sunday's match, his team heads for Bangladesh to play two tests and three one-dayers, but Hooper will go to Australia to undergo a surgery on his troublesome right knee.

Concerned over his bowlers failing to keep a check on the India's inform batsmen, Hooper will surely miss pace spearhead Mervyn Dillon.

West Indies team manager Ricky Skerrit said Dillon's niggling injury "might take more than a week to heal."

The Windies attack, however, has been bolstered by the arrival of paceman Jermaine Lawson, who joined the squad Friday. Lawson was sent as a replacement for injured middle-order batsman Ryan Hinds.

India is also confronted with an injury problem as ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh hasn't yet been cleared to play by team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus.

* From media reports.