Bhubaneswar: With much fanfare, both the teams – India and West Indies – arrived Thursday here ahead of their third and final ODI at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Sunday.
The three-match series is locked at 1-1 after a massive 107-run win by India in Visakhapatnam in the second ODI, courtesy Rohit Sharma’s 159, KL Rahul’s 102 and Kuldeep Yadav’s hat-trick. Let aside the last match, both the sides are gearing up for the series decider.
The players along with the management staff were taken to a fortified hotel here amidst tight security by platoons of armed police force.
Amidst the fans’ chanting of ‘Viraaaat…Virat’ and ‘Rohiiiittt…Rohit’ as well as ‘Pollaaaardd…Pollard’, the teams entered the hotel at around 1:20pm. The Indian team bus was the first to enter followed by the West Indies’. Rohit Sharma was the first to step out of the bus followed by head coach Ravi Shastri and Ravindra Jadeja. However, it was the all-rounder who entered the hotel building first.
The most unexpected thing was the team members were greeted in a modern way instead of their usual traditional manner. And this was the first time the method of greeting had been changed by the hotel management.
Few things were common though, like the traditional way of greet using flowers, sandalwood and vermilion. However, there were no traditional bands comprising dhol and tasha. Instead, the hotel staff performed a dance on a Hindi movie song turning the greeting an entertaining one.
After entering the hotel building, the members of both the teams were offered green coconuts as refreshment drink.
The West Indies team are scheduled to go for nets Friday morning, the Indian players will leave the hotel here for practice at around 1.00pm.
Apart from opening a police camp in front of the hotel where the players are being lodged, the police had undertaken a mock drill of the carcade Wednesday before the arrival of teams.
Police said at least 63 platoons (one platoon comprise 30 personnel) of the police force and a Rapid Action Force contingent comprising 300 officers have been deployed to maintain law and order situation.
PNN