India's narrow loss at Ahmedabad is surely Indore's gain. The five-match series is alive, and the long serpentine queues for tickets in the complex outside the Holkar Stadium here have ensured a full house when West Indies will look to get even on Thursday. India, yet to play like a World champion against a starless opposition, should consider itself extremely fortunate to hold a 2-1 lead. With a bit more self-belief, the visiting team could have emerged victorious in the first two matches.

It's time India played to its potential and maintained its unbeaten record in the city. The collective batting failure of Virender Sehwag, Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina against some inspired bowling from the underdogs has put far too much pressure on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. India twice chased down targets before running out of luck on Monday night.

A belter The pitch here is a belter. Curator Samandar Singh Chauhan said: “Even a target of 270-280 can be chased down under lights. We will be using chemicals to minimise the impact of dew.” Sehwag has made no secret of his preference to chase under lights in the series. But the absence of a good start has straightaway brought India under pressure. For a change, it may be a good idea to bat first. Without the pressure of chasing a target, it is likely that the top-order will find form and bat the opposition out of the contest.

With Irfan Pathan back in the squad, India has a variety in its pace attack. Abhimanyu Mithun will be looking to make amends for the way he bowled to Darren Sammy at Ahmedabad. The hard-working Vinay Kumar has been disciplined and proved consistently effective with the new ball. R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have done the job expected of them.

West Indies, too, has its batting woes. Twice the visiting team has proved that its sting lies in the tail. With a win under its belt, the team believes that should India bat below par one more time, it can travel to Chennai for the fifth match with honours even. Opener Lendl Simmons and the experienced Marlon Samuels are the only two batsmen in the team with one-day centuries.

The dangerous Kieron Pollard, a more reliable Andre Russell and Denesh Ramdin are all due for a big one, much like their Indian counterparts. An injured Darren Bravo will miss the match and that may well make room for Kieran Powell. Terrific trio Though West Indies has employed two spinners, including rookie Sunil Narine, but it is the trio of Rampaul, Roach and Russell which has troubled the Indians.

Rampaul, whose all-round abilities are coming to the fore in this series, has kept the Indians guessing. A much-quicker Roche has struck vital blows in search of his lost form. Russell, too, has had his moments. Though the series is nicely set up, should the Indian batsmen strike form, for a change, it could well pave the way for a series-clinching win.

At the same time, the largely inexperienced Indian bowling has escaped serious punishment in the series so far. In the last match, most West Indian batsmen on view got starts before fading away. Armed with a morale-boosting close win, the West Indians can be expected to come that much harder at the Indian bowlers. A battle of batsmen seems to be in the offing.

The teams (from): India: Virender Sehwag (captain), Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, A. Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron and Manoj Tiwary. West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Lendl Simmons, Danza Hyatt, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Kieran Powell, Adrian Barath, Jason Mohammed and Anthony Martin.