NEW DELHI — India goes into its final one-dayer against Pakistan seeking to restore some pride but with its captain M.S. Dhoni a doubt because of a sore back. The top-order batting failure in home conditions has hurt the team badly in recent times and the hosts will need a huge spark of inspiration to prevent the spirited Pakistanis from achieving a clean sweep. Dhoni's injury has compounded India's misery and the team management will wait till Sunday before taking a decision on his availability. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been called up as his back-up. “If at all somebody is doubtful, it's me. I have a sore back and we have called Dinesh Karthik as back-up, Dhoni was reported as saying Saturday. Although Yuvraj Singh also skipped the practice session, Dhoni said it was not because of any injury. “Yuvraj did not come for practice since it was an optional session,” he said. Clearly, the pressure is 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. With the series already out of their grasp, India might give its bench players a chance, but whether they can change the team's fortunes remains to be seen in the day/night game that will start at noon to neutralize the dew factor. Dhoni, in good form with the bat, has been at a loss to explain the repeated failures and there have been suggestions that he should promote himself up the order considering the poor form of the top half. Ajinkya Rahane, who has not played a single match despite his decent showing in the two T20 games against Pakistan, is almost certain to feature in the playing eleven. The two experienced openers — Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir — have invariably failed to give a good start and that has hurt the team badly. The Indians may contemplate benching either of them and let Rahane open the innings. The other top batsmen Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have also been patchy and none of them have shown consistency nor have they shouldered the responsibility. 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. Dhoni has acknowledged time and again that the batting has let the team down, but India's bowling also does not have the bite to pose much problems for the strong Pakistani batting line-up. The trio of Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar neither have the pace nor the consistency to evoke any confidence while spinners R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have also not been in the of best form. The hosts lost the first game in Chennai by six wickets and the second in Kolkata by 85 runs to give their arch-rivals their first series win on Indian soil since 2004-05. — Agencies
