It will be a do or die situation for India when they play their penultimate league match of the DLF Cup tri-series in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday against the West Indies who have already assured themselves a berth in the final.
The Indians cannot afford any slip-up against the Caribbeans who will have nothing to lose but all to gain as they prepare themselves for the title clash on September 24.
Brian Lara's men have turned out to be the surprise package of the tournament, putting it across India, albeit through the Duckworth-Lewis system in a rain-affected match, and then pulling off a shock three-wicket win against world champions Australians to negate the effect from their defeat in the opening match to the Aussies.
India and Australia will have to fight it out for the second finalist's spot and both of them would now have to win their remaining matches to avoid an early exit from this tournament, billed as a warm-up to the ICC Champions Trophy to be hosted by India next month.
The Indians have been done in by a mix of poor luck and wayward form.
After a roaring start in their opener when they piled up 309 against the West Indies, only to see the rain rob them of a possible victory, the Indians lost the plot against Australia, losing 5 of their top order wickets with just 35 runs on the board in the rain-ruined contest.
With rain intervening both the times that India took the field in this day-night tournament, Rahul Dravid's men would be hoping the weather would relent this time around and allow them to play a full 100-over match.
On their part, the Indians have not been able to put an all round show here -- if the batsmen have delivered, the bowlers have disappointed and vice-versa.
This is something that must be worrying the Indian team management which will have to find a solution to the problem before it is too late.
Coach Greg Chappell is well aware of the situation and has asked his players to focus on Wednesday's match only.
"We don't have to think about winning the two consecutive matches, but we have to win the first one first. We have to put together a good performance for the first one and then we will worry about the second,", he said.
"We have to get the team to become more versatile before the World Cup. There will be some changes in the team though not big changes," he said.
The Indian bowlers did well in the last game against Australia by restricting them to a manageable 244 all out in 49.2 overs but the form of Irfan Pathan remains a concern.
Pathan, who made a quickfire 64 in India's first match, is still struggling to find the rhythm with the ball and had to be pulled away from the attack after he was torn apart by the makeshift Australian opening pair of Phil Jaques and Shane Watson.
It should not be a surprise if the Baroda left-arm paceman is left out of Wednesday's game but his form with the bat may still tilt the scale in his favour.
Dravid though defended Pathan who conceded 32 runs from his four overs in exchange for the wicket of Ricky Ponting.
"Irfan has struggled a bit. He was not able to bowl in the right areas. We want Irfan to bowl better. We have to nurse him through this period," the skipper had said after the game against Australia.
"He had bowled so well against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He is trying hard. Hopefully he will fight back."
Pathan apart, the other two fast bowlers -- R P Singh and Munaf Patel did not disappoint and the same could be said of the two slow bowlers -- Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag.
As far as the batting goes, should Sachin Tendulkar continue with the form he has shown, the rest of the batsmen can just rally round him and ensure they do not let the team down.
The track at the Kinrara Oval is showing signs of easing off though the odd ball is still keeping low. But as the batsmen of the likes of Michael Hussey and Chris Gayle have shown, runs can come in plenty provided one sees off the initial few overs.
West Indies might rest a couple of their key players giving Corey Collymore and Runako Morton a chance in the next game against India.
Squads:
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, R P Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Mongia, S Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar.
West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore.
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