Indian team without regular captain Rohit Sharma, former Indian captain Virat Kohli, regular wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, the man in form Kung-Fu Pandya, and firebolt Jasprit Bumrah on paper may look an average team.
In addition to it, KL Rahul tested positive for Covid, and Jadeja out with a knee injury added to the wounds. Any top team without their regular star players looks like an inexperienced team but any team is not the Indian Cricket Team.
Shikhar Dhawan-led India team was able to beat the West Indies team by runs in what seemed like a hard-fought victory at the end.
The West Indies team deserves praise as whenever the game seemed to move out of their hands, they did not let the game go away and fought valiantly both with bat and ball. There was brilliance in the field from Pooran when he caught a blinder to get the Indian vice-captain dismissed.
The West Indian Captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and asked India to bat first. Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson were given an opportunity ahead of Rituraj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan.
Openers solid with their techniques
The Indian openers made full use of the batting conditions on offer. Any width on offer and the batsman were up to laying hands. The aggressive start laid a solid foundation for the inexperienced middle order to put on a massive total on the board.
Together both Dhawan and Gill put on 119 for the first wicket in 17.4 overs before the latter was dismissed in his comeback innings. Gill(64 off 53) scored his 1st ODI half-century in just his 4th ODI innings.
Captain-Vice Captain duo put the Windies at bay
Dhawan and Iyer carried forward the momentum scoring 94 runs in the middle overs. The constant strike rotation along with picking up the regular odd boundaries within successive overs made the Windies bowling look lackadaisical until they picked up the wicket of the Indian captain.
Dhawan was dismissed on 97(99), falling 3 short of his 18th ODI century in his 150th ODI innings. It was the 10th time Dhawan was dismissed in the 90s. Shreyas Iyer(54 off 57) scored his 10th ODI half-century before being dismissed.
Middle order and lower middle order collapse raise insecurities
England series was where Top Order failed miserably in the last 2 ODI games, it was where the middle order stood still and helped India clinch the series 2-1. Today was a different day though, the middle order lacked intent with no signs of aggressive batting in the slog overs.
India scored just 78 runs in 14.5 overs after Iyer’s dismissal, thus setting a target of 309 for the Windies to chase glory. At one point of time, 350 seemed like a cake walk but Windies pulled back things at the right time to restrict the visitors to 308.
Windies off to a brisk start despite an early strike
The Windies started their innings with a defensive approach as both openers played out Indian seamers Siraj and Krishna sensibly. Just when Shai Hope(7) looked to regain his lost touch with a beautiful stroke, he perished.
This was when Brooks joined Mayers to build the innings. While Mayers(75 off 68) was the aggressor scoring majority of the runs at a quick pace, Brooks(46 off 61) played the supporting role to him diligently.
India fight back in the middle overs
Both Brooks and Mayers were dismissed in a space of 2 overs by India’s golden boy Shardul Thakur, thus exposing the inexperienced middle order to the likes of Chahal, Thakur, and Krishna but skipper Pooran and Brandon King stood up to the occassion.
Although the same defensive approach was followed they ensured the scoreboard ticking putting up a partnership of 51 runs in 9.2 overs before the skipper was dismissed to a poor shot which wasn’t needed. Rovman Powell followed up his skipper to the Pavillion when fell to the trap set up by Chahal leaving West Indies stuttering at 196-5.
Windies inexperienced lower middle order showed great resilience
The equation for Windies read 112 of 13 overs with 5 wickets in hand. Well, any T20 fan would’ve predicted the Windies to be victorious seeing the Windies batsman pulling out such feats in the past but the team did not have Pollard, Russell, or Bravo to help them.
India seemed complete favourites to win the match from here with no specialist Windies batter/exploding finisher to follow. The run rate climbed to 9.5 runs an over. Brandon King was the key for the Windies in chasing down the target.
King changed gears at started to target boundaries, in the process bringing up his half-century. King eventually holed out to Iyer off Chahal leaving Windies needing 54 off the last 5 overs.
Shephard’s brilliance goes in vain
When things seemed all dark for Windies, Shephard(39*) joined hands with Akeal Hosein and launched couple of big hits to bring the equation to 15 off 6 balls. Siraj held his nerves and defended 15 runs in the last over, giving only 11 runs away. Things could have even been interesting as a boundary off the last ball would have taken us to a super-off fight.
Brief Scores
India: 308-7
(Dhawan 97, Gill 64, Iyer 54, Motie 2-54, Joseph 2-61)
Windies: 305-6
(Mayers 75, King 54, Brooks 46 Thakur 2-54 Siraj 2-58 )
Man of the Match: Shikhar Dhawan
Read More : Bumrah Rattles England as India took the lead in the ODI Series
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