MS Dhoni doubtful as India look to restore some pride against Pakistan

Licking the wounds of yet another series defeat, India's struggling cricketers will seek to restore some pride when they go into the last one-dayer against arch rivals Pakistan here on Sunday with their captain M S Dhoni being a doubtful starter because of a sore back. The collective failure of the top order batsmen even 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 3-0 clean sweep. Dhoni's injury has compounded India's misery and the team management will wait till Sunday before taking a final decision on his availability for the match. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been called up as a 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 said. Yuvraj Singh also skipped the practice session but Dhoni made it clear that there were no injury problems with him. "Since it was an optional practice session, Yuvraj did not come," he said. 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. With the series already out of their grasp, the Indians may experiment by giving a chance to some of their bench players but whether they can change the team's sliding fortunes remains to be seen in a day-night game which will start at noon to neutralise 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. Source: PTI