Thiruvananthapuram: India goes into the final ODI on Thursday eyeing another home series triumph against the West Indies, a far cry from the dominant force it was when the city last hosted a 50-over international three decades ago. A victory in the fifth and penultimate One-day International will ensure India maintain their unbeaten run since the reverse against South Africa in 2015. Leading 2-1 in the five-match series that also witnessed a tie, the hosts faced unexpected resistance in the past few days, including suffering a shock defeat, since the time the West Indians set foot in the country a little more than a month ago. The weather is expected to play a part with showers predicted. Virat Kohli’s men bounced back from the loss in the third match at Pune to record a massive 224-run win at Mumbai. The home team will hope to carry the momentum into the series decider in Thiruvananthapuram. Here's everything you need to know about the fifth ODI between India and West Indies: When will India vs West Indies fixture take place? The fourth ODI between India and West Indies will take on 1 November, 2018. Where will the match be played? The 5th India vs West Indies ODI will be played in Thiruvananthapuram. What time does the match begin? The 5th ODI will begin at 1330 hrs IST. Toss will take place at 1300 hrs IST. Which TV channels will broadcast the India-West Indies ODIs? The match will be telecast on Star Sports network in English, Hindi, and Tamil, in both standard as well as HD formats. How do I watch the match online? The match will be live streamed on hotstar.com. You can also catch live updates on firstpost.com. With inputs from PTI<doc-sep>Established: 2015 Capacity: 55,000 Location: Trivandrum, India The Greenfield International Stadium in Trivandrum, Kerala will be hosting its maiden ODI game when India take on the Windies in the final match of the five-match series. India currently lead the series 2-1 and a win in this match will seal the series. But a win for the visitors would ensure the series ends level. However, the possibility of rain affecting the match in some way is high as the weather forecast for Friday in the city predicts at least some rain. The multi-purpose stadium has only ever hosted a solitary international game in 2017: a T20I between India and New Zealand, which was also rain-affected and reduced to an eight overs a side game. India won that game by 6 runs. Brief Overview The stadium has also hosted international football matches, the first of which took place in 2015 when India beat Afghanistan in the final of the SAFF Cup. That match drew 48,000 spectators to the game, a number that isn’t surprising given how popular the sport is in the state. Besides its multi-purpose nature, the stadium is also the first fully eco-friendly one in India. It is surrounded by plants and has a facility for water harvesting. In 2016, the stadium also won the David Vickers Award for New Venue of the Year in the Stadium Business Awards 2016 held at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid. However, just like the Brabourne Stadium’s return to hosting international cricket after a 9-year exile, the Greenfield International Stadium hosting this ODI was also shrouded in some controversy. KCA Mess The Greenfield International Stadium was originally picked as the hosts for the final ODI by the BCCI. However, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) chose to shift the match to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi instead. The decision to hold the match there did not go down well with Kerala’s football fans, who worried that reconstructing pitches would damage the turf that was relayed in for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which could in turn lead to higher injury risks for footballers who played for Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters. The situation became so bad that Sachin Tendulkar (then co-owner of the Blasters) and Sourav Ganguly spoke out against the KCA’s decision, as did footballers Iain Hume and CK Vineeth. Eventually the state’s sports minister held talks with the KCA and the game was once again shifted back to the Greenfield International Stadium. Controversies aside, the final game of the series should be a thriller given the high stakes that surrounds the match but fans must hope that rain doesn’t play spoilsport.<doc-sep>It’s a well-known fact that MS Dhoni is revered by fans all over India. But ahead of the fifth ODI between India and West Indies at Trivandrum, the ‘All Kerala Dhoni Fans Association’ did something big - literally - to show how much they love the former Indian skipper. Outside the Greenfield Stadium in Trivandrum, a 35 foot cut-out was installed of Dhoni batting in Indian colours to welcome him to the city. A video of how the cut-out was being prepared was shared by Chennai Super Kings on their Twitter account as well. Dhoni might not have had the best series with the bat, but showed his worth behind the stumps in the 4th ODI when he whipped the bails off with lightning speed in his trademark fashion to dismiss Keemo Paul. The fact that Dhoni was dropped from the T20I side for the Australia series shows that he is not as indispensable to the Indian side as he was a few years back. But regardless of his form, Dhoni’s fans continue to show him love as evidenced by the huge cut-out.<doc-sep>
Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram (Twittergrab) | Photo Credit: Twitter Three days after India reopened the cricketing gates to Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium, the Men in Blue led by Virat Kohli stands hours away from reinaugurating Thiruvananthapuram's Greenfield International Stadium when they take on West Indies for the fifth and final ODI game of the five-match contest. Greenfield Stadium had last and only once hosted the Indian team last year, but in T20I format. Thursday's encounter against Jason Holder's men will be India's first ODI match at the venue. The multi-purpose stadium, having a capacity of 55000 spectators, was built in 2015. Back then, it had hosted an international football friendly between India and Afghanistan as part of SAFF Cup final. A year later it won the David Vickers Award for New Venue of the Year in the Stadium Business Awards 2016 which was held in Madrid. Greenfield is also India's only fully eco-friendly stadium. In 2017, in October, the Indian cricket team played against New Zealand in the T20I format. India won the rain-marred game by six runs. About the game, India will be the overwhelming favourites to beat West Indies and claim the trophy. They are presently leading 2-1 and a win on Thursday will complete their sixth straight bilateral home series win in ODIs. India's last defeat came against South Africa in 2015. However, the visitors can't be written off having shown resistance against the Indian bowling attack twice - winning one and drawing the other. Also, rain is expected to play a spoilsport as per reports. About the team, the last two ODIs are more or less to zero down on the winning combination for India. While Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been in sublime form hitting respective centuries, India's fiercely backed No.4 batter Ambati Rayudu has been among the run-scorers in the series. On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan has been unable to convert his positive starts, while MS Dhoni's struggle with the willow continues. In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah has been at his best form, with Khaleel Ahmed living it up to the expectations, while Bhuveshwar Kumar has been a bit rusty in the series.