India attempt a 3-0 scoreline Playing for pride hasn't been the greatest motivator for the West Indies in recent times; after all, if it had been, they would have been winning the last few games of every series they have lost. But the drubbings they have received thus far in the series cannot fail to sting, and when they take the field at the Eden Gardens, they - and captain Carl Hooper in particular - must be desperate to salvage at least a vestige of honour. Sourav Ganguly, for his part, will be looking to complete a whitewash. If he does, he will tie Mohammad Azharuddin as the winningest captain ever, doing so - satisfyingly enough - in front of his home crowd at Kolkata. Much, as usual, will depend upon the pitch, but few expect the lightning-fast track that can really give the West Indians a significant upper hand.

Ganguly looks for whitewash, Hooper for salvaged pride As the series goes into the final Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, there could not be more differences between the two sides. India, virtually on top of the world after an amazing run of form over the past few months, has already sealed this series. The West Indies, on the other hand, is still trying to come to terms with a woeful lack of firepower, and they will just be playing for pride at Kolkata. The comments by the captains before the Test reflected just that. "We have been playing good cricket for the past 11-12 months. We want to keep it going," Ganguly told reporters on Tuesday. "We will try our best to win it 3-0." "It shows how well we're playing since I became captain," said Ganguly, who has won 13 of his 29 games as captain since taking over two years ago. "The juniors have come up very well under my captaincy." Carl Hooper, on the other hand, sounded beleaguered. "It's basically about pride," he said. The West Indian captain, who himself has struggled for runs on the tour, said his batsmen will have to tackle spin better and take their catches after flooring a dozen chances in the first two Tests. On tackling spin, he said, "We have either been giving too much respect to the spinners or indulging in too much strokeplay. We need to strike the right balance. We got to make three-figure scores." The West Indies have crossed 200 runs only once in four innings so far with Ramnaresh Sarwan's 78 in Madras the best individual effort. Hooper said it was time his young side began winning. "The transition phase has lasted three years. It's time for better results. Hopefully the youngsters will get better. Right now, we are chopping and changing."

Eden Gardens and germ warfare? Days ahead of the final Test at Kolkata, the city's civic inspectors detected traces of cholera germs in the water taps of the Eden Gardens stadium. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor-in-council (water) is reported to have labelled the water "unfit for human consumption." "We have detected coliform bacteria in the water samples from eight taps in seven bocks of the stadium. Leave apart drinking it, even using the water to wash could be dangerous," Chatterjee said. This would put a substantial percentage of the undoubtedly capacity crowd at risk, and the blame seems to lie with the stadium authorities, who have not made any efforts to disinfect the water. The KMC has already issued instructions to disinfect its water facilities, and more samples will be taken from the infected blocks on Sunday.

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