Having sealed the series with back-to-back convincing wins in the first two ODIs, India made a heap of changes to its line-up. Still, the West Indies couldn’t match the onslaught as India registered its maiden bilateral series clean sweep versus West Indies with an emphatic 96-run win on Friday.
Despite the change in personnel, the script at the Narendra Modi Stadium turned out to be quite similar to the one that was witnessed at the same venue two days earlier.
Electing to bat, India lost the top three early on, the middle-order then consolidated thanks to Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant’s solid batting before a late flurry by Deepak Chahar meant India was bowled out for 265 off the last ball of its innings, the highest total of the esries.
Under the lights in the evening, the Windies batters’ inability to deal with quality bowling was exposed yet again. Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar made early inroads with their swing, Prasidh Krishna’s pace was too good to negotiate with Kuldeep Yadav bamboozling the middle- and lower-middle order with his uncanny wristspin.
As a result, all that the Windies could manage was 169 before being bowled out in the 38th over. Had it not been for India’s sloppy catching in the latter half, the game could have gotten over 30 overs into the chase itself.
The only time the visiting outfit appeared to be asking question was during the all-southpaw partnership between stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran and Darren Bravo, both of whom drove and cut with aplomb, after Siraj and Chahar had got rid of the top three for a meagre 25.
Once Prasidh bowled one in the perfect channel to see Virat Kohli taking a shapr catch at second slip off Bravo’s edge and followed it up with another in his next over to get Rohit Sharma in action at first slip to see Jason Holder’s back, the floodgates opened yet again.
The fact that the fourth-wicket partnership of 43 turned out to be the highest stand in the West Indies innings underlined the difference between both the sides. When Pant joined Shreyas in the middle in thr 10th over, India was in a spot of bother at 42 for three.
With Rohit (played on to his stumps with feet not moving off Joseph), Kohli (caught down the leg off Joseph two balls later) and Shikhar Dhawan (undone by Odean Smith’s additional bounce), the onus was on Shreyas and Pant to stabilise the innings.
The next 20 overs saw the duo not only controlling the damage but also give the Windies batters a lesson batting in ODIs to help India gain ascendancy. While Pant targetted the spin of Fabian Allen and Hayden Walsh, Shreyas’s upper cut off Smith early on was one of the shots of the series.
Pant’s dismissal, misreading leggie Walsh’s line to edge a full delivery to the keeper, started a mini-collapse with India 187 for six in the 38th over. But with Washington Sundar rotating the strike without any funss, Chahar played a cameo that ensured India had more than a handy total to defend on a strip that continued to assist the bowlers.
Scoreboard
India Innings: Rohit Sharma b Alzarri Joseph 13 Shikhar Dhawan c Holder b Odean Smith 10 Virat Kohli c Shai Hope b Alzarri Joseph 0 Shreyas Iyer c DM Bravo b Hayden Walsh 80 Rishabh Pant c Shai Hope b Hayden Walsh 56 Suryakumar Yadav c Shamarh Brooks b Fabian Allen 6 Washington Sundar c Odean Smith b Holder 33 Deepak Chahar c Shai Hope b Holder 38 Kuldeep Yadavc Shai Hope b Holder 5 Mohammed Siraj b Holder 4 Prasidh Krishna not out 0 Extras: (LB-1,W-18,NB-1) 20
Total: (all out in 50 overs) 265
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-42, 4-152, 5-164, 6-187, 7-240, 8-250, 9-261, 10-265.
West Indies bowling: Kemar Roach 7-0-39-0, Alzarri Joseph 10-1-54-2, Odean Smith 7-0-36-1, Jason Holder 8-1-34-4, Fabian Allen 8-0-42-1, Hayden Walsh 10-0-59-2.
West Indies Innings: Shai Hope lbw b Siraj 5 Brandon King c Suryakumar Yadav b D Chahar 14 Darren Bravo c Kohli b Prasidh 20 Shamarh Brooks c Shreyas Iyer b D Chahar 0 Nicholas Pooran c Rohit b Kuldeep Yadav 34 Jason Holder c Rohit b Prasidh 6 Fabian Allen c Pant b Kuldeep Yadav 0 Alzarri Joseph c Kohli b Prasidh 29 Odean Smith c Dhawan b Siraj 36 Hayden Walsh c Rohit b Siraj 13 Extras: (LB-4,W-9) 13
Total: (all out in 37.1 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-25, 3-25, 4-68, 5-76, 6-77 , 7-82, 8-122, 9-169, 10-169.
India bowling: Deepak Chahar 8-1-41-2, Mohammed Siraj 9-1-29-3, Prasidh Krishna 8.1-1-27-3, Kuldeep Yadav 8-0-51-2, Washington Sundar 4-0-17-0.
