India sealed the series 3-0 with another clinical win against West Indies on Friday. The top-order failed to get going but Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant rebuilt before cameos from Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar pushed India’s score to 265. In reply, West Indies crumbled and had no answers against a spirited Indian bowling attack. The visitors fell to 169 allout and lost by 96 runs.
Virat Kohli’s wretched series comes to an end
Virat Kohli is a modern-day great and until a couple of years back, he was churning out hundreds for fun across all formats. There has been a dip in form but he has produced some quality knocks. He may not have scored a ton in international cricket for nearly two and a half years but he has been getting the runs.
In ODI cricket, he was getting half-centuries very consistently but was failing to convert them into three-figure scores. However, in this series, the runs dried up as well. Kohli’s form has just gone haywire and he has finished with a mere 26 runs in three innings. That’s the second-lowest the former Indian captain has ever averaged in a bilateral ODI series. Moreover, this is the first time since July 2015 Kohli has gone through an ODI series without recording a half-century.
Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant rebuild after famed Indian top three falls cheaply
For the second game in a row, India found themselves in trouble as they lost three early wickets. Shikhar Dhawan was back in the side and India had their famed top three of Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli back in place. However, they failed to fire.
Alzarri Joseph was the one who gave West Indies early joy. He knocked over skipper Rohit Sharma who was looking set for a big one. A couple of balls later, Joseph had Kohli strangled down the leg-side to have two in the over. Odean Smith then got the wicket of Dhawan in his very first over.
India were 42/3 in the 10th over. Shreyas Iyer walked out at No.4 and Rishabh Pant at No. 5. The pair reconstructed the innings and got the hosts back on track. While Iyer took his time and played second fiddle, Pant counter-attacked really well. The left-hander found the boundaries consistently and put the spinners under pressure regularly. Iyer rotated strike and even he got the odd boundary.
The Iyer-Pant pair added 110 runs for the fifth wicket. Pant reached his half-century in just 47 deliveries but the Delhi lad couldn’t cash in and convert it into a big one. Iyer wasn’t the quickest to the 50-run landmark but he was anchoring the innings really well. However, just when he was going to change gears, he perished as well (for 80).
Deepak Chahar shines with both bat and ball
Deepak Chahar hasn’t been a regular member of the Indian ODI side but every time he has got an opportunity, he has proved his worth. It was no different in this game.
It was with the bat that Chahar impressed first. In his previous two ODI knocks, he had recorded half-centuries bailing India out of tricky situations. And he did that once again. He walked out to bat at 187/6 and scored a run-a-ball 38 in a knock that included four fours and two sixes. His knock was responsible for India getting to a fighting total of 265.
With the ball, he struck twice in the same over to break the back of the West Indian top-order. After Mohammed Siraj trapped Shai Hope LBW in the fourth over, Chahar picked up the wickets of Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks in the space of three deliveries. He finished with figures of 2/41.
West Indies batting line-up crumbles once again
The West Indian batting line-up just hasn’t turned up throughout this series. Only one batter in the entire three-match series recorded a half-century and none of the batters went past an aggregate of 70. In fact, it is only Odean Smith who averages 30 and none of the others even touch 25. Moreover, West Indies have failed to bat out their entire quota of 50 overs even once in this series. In addition, they couldn’t even reach the 200-run mark even once. In this game, West Indies folded up for a mere 169 in 37.1 overs.
Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna continue to impress as they share seven wickets between them
India’s pace attack has been highly impressive throughout this series, especially in the last couple of games. Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, in particular, were superb. They hit the hard lengths and didn’t allow the West Indian batters to get away. The duo kept picking wickets consistently as well.
In this game, Siraj was the one who got India the first breakthrough as he got Shai Hope LBW. He then came back to dismiss the dangerous Odean Smith who was batting on 36 off 17 balls. Siraj also bounced Hayden Walsh out. Meanwhile, Krishna who picked up 4/12 in the last game continued from where he left off. The Karnataka pacer got the wickets of Darren Bravo and Jason Holder to break the back of the West Indian middle-order. He then wrapped up the game with the scalp of Alzarri Joseph.
Siraj finished with figures of 9-1-29-3 and Krishna picked up 8.1-1-27-3.
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