The fifth and final one-dayer has only academic interest. But both India and Pakistan will not be unaware of the importance of this match. For the hosts, it is a chance to assert their supremacy and keep the momentum going. For the visitors, it’s an opportunity to prove that they are not down and out yet.

India will have to guard against the complacency factor, and keep up the good work of the previous matches to make the scoreline 4-1. It also gives them a chance to field players who have been warming the benches throughout this series.

It is certain that pace bowlers Rudra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan, and off-spinner Harbhjan Singh will not play Saturday's day-night match at the Sawai Mansingh stadium. It paves the way for left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and Kerala paceman S Sreesanth to return to the playing eleven.

Uttar Pradesh medium-pacer Praveen Kumar too will make his debut. RP Singh will certainly cherish this break as he has been rolling his arm over from Ireland. With the three-match Test series beginning in a few days, RP Singh needs this rest as he will have to play a crucial role in that series.

Zaheer’s too is a similar case, and he needs to replenish his batteries before the longer version of the game. For Sreesanth, it is a chance to prove to the bigwigs that the time off from the playing eleven has been beneficial.

The pace bowler was conceding far too many runs in the one-dayers, and didn’t pick up too many wickets either.
A good spell here will definitely improve his stock. A relatively no-pressure game is the best Praveen could have hoped for on debut. If the all-rounder comes up with the goods, it will be a boost for his career.

The fourth slot available will be taken by Rohit Sharma, and it remains to be seen in whose place he comes in. It is likely that he will replace Sourav Ganguly, who is yet to hit top gear.

Rohit has been with the team from the tour to Ireland for the Future Cup, where he had made his one-day debut against South Africa. He had revealed his class during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa with a couple of sparkling knocks.
But he did played just one game in the seven-match series against Australia, and the time is ripe to give him a chance before throwing him into deeper waters.
Pakistan have some serious work to do as a win is essential for their confidence ahead of the Test series. Little has gone right for Pakistan in this series, and they have looked a team out of their depth in all games except in Mohali.
They havestruggled to stitch together meaningful partnership regularly and that has prevented them from posting formidable totals whenever they batted first.

Their bowlers -- a good line-up with four quality pacemen -- have failed to sustain the intensity throughout the match, allowing the Indian batsmen to pace their innings at will.

The have the option of bringing in Fawad Alam, a Twenty20 specialist, into the team as he also adds depth to their batting. However, their fielding has been the most worrying area as fumbles and dropped catches have been galore in the previous matches.

Such a shabby effort can break the confidence of the bowlers as well, and they will have to tighten up in that area to challenge India in the final one-dayer. But at this point, India seem impregnable.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdur Rehman, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Akhtar, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, Iftikar Anjum, Imran Nazir, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Sohail Tanvir.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Amish Saheba. Third umpire: GA Pratapkumar. Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).