Team India gets a warm & traditional welcome in Odisha as Virat & co eye to win series

Virat Kohli and co received a warm and traditional welcome at the capital city of Odisha as Team India arrived in the state for the decider against the West Indies on Sunday. After a scintillating performance at Vishakapatnam in the second ODI, India will look to continue the rampage and clinch yet another series to end the year on a high note. The series stands level at 1-1, with West Indies grabbing the win in the first ODI and India bouncing back in the 2nd ODI to beat the visitors by a mammoth 107 runs. However, India have learnt the lesson to not take the Windies lightly as the rightfully showed the might of their young line-up in the first game that had left India stunned. 

READ | ICC Extends Partnership With UNICEF For 2020 Women's T20 World Cup   

Men in Blue get a warm welcome

READ | Pravin Tambe Says He Will Bring Energy, Positivity To KKR Like A 20-year-old

'We are one of the top sides'

"In the last three games, including the one at Wankhede and first two ODIs (of this series), we've batted well in the first half. Batting second isn't an issue, we're one of the top sides, if not the best while chasing. As a captain, nice to see the way we've batted first after losing the toss. It shows we're not reliant on the toss," Kohli said after the match.

"It's always good to get 40-50 extra and we want to bat the opposition out of the game. Rohit and KL were outstanding, the opening partnership set it up. Shreyas and Rishabh, the way they played, was outstanding," he added.

READ | Prithvi Shaw Says He Was Keen To Get Back To Form Quickly

Asked about the 34 boundaries and 16 sixes India hit during the innings in view of the T20 World Cup next year, he said, "The more we get confident in T20s while batting first, the better. There's no major 50-over cricket now, so we need to just play fearlessly, which is the need of the hour." Kohli, however, made his displeasure known about the poor fielding in the last two matches, saying the team will need to maintain high standards in all the departments of the game.

READ | Tour Match Downgraded As England Hit By Illness

India's squad for third ODI:

Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini.