Ind vs Pak: India opt to bat against Pakistan in 3rd ODI

New Delhi, Jan 6: Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat against Pakistan in the third one-day international at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday.

India have brought in Ajinkya Rahane and Mohammad Shami Ahmed in place of Virender Sehwag and Ashok Dinda.

Pakistan have replaced Anwar Ali with Umar Akmal.

A team on top of the world not a year-and-a-half back is now staring at the prospect of only the second series whitewash at home since losing five ODIs to the West Indies between October and December 1983.

India will seek to thwart Misbah-ul Haq's attempt to enter history books as the only Pakistan captain to make a clean sweep of a series on Indian soil.

The collective failure of the top order batsmen even in home conditions has hurt the Indian team badly in recent times and the hosts will need a huge spark of inspiration to prevent the spirited Pakistanis from achieving a 3-0 clean sweep.

Clearly, the pressure will be on the Indians who have been plagued by an inexplicable form slump of their star batsmen while the limited and inexperienced bowling resources have compounded the misery for the hosts who have now sunk to a new low with the recent debacles.

The hosts lost the first game in Chennai by six wickets and the second in Kolkata by 85 runs to give their arch foes their first series win on Indian soil since 2004-05.

In the absence of retired greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, the experienced players in the team have not shown the willingness to take the batting load.

India's bowling also does not have the bite to pose much problems for the strong Pakistani batting line-up which has been well-served by left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed who has cracked back-to-back centuries.

Pakistan's batting has clicked with Jamshed in stunning form while the experienced Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan have also chipped in with useful contributions.

But it is their bowling which has really made the difference, particularly the potent pace trio of Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan and Umar Gul.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami Ahmed.

Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt.), Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan.