India conducts clinical demolition
Mukesh Kumar took three early wickets to put West Indies in a difficult chase on the back foot right immediately.
After a comprehensive thrashing at the Brian Lara Cricket Ground in Trinidad, India defeated West Indies to win the one-day international series 2-1. The visitors scored a huge total of 351 runs after West Indies won the toss and ordered India to bat. They only handed up 151 runs, securing a 200-run victory in the 36th over of the attempted run-chase.
India was invited to bat by the hosts since the series was on the line and they were without the seasoned Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The visitors scored a mammoth 351/5 in 50 overs thanks to an outstanding performance by the top and middle order on a typical Trinidadian surface.
Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill got off to shaky starts, with the former dropping a catch and the latter missing Mayers with another. Shubman Gill made a couple errant shots of his own and, throughout the innings, avoided being run out on several occasions due to shoddy communication. The two broke free, though, and scored quickly, reaching their fifties at a faster rate than a run-a-ball. When the final score was 143, Cariah was the one who tricked Kishan with the flight and left him perplexed. Soon after, Gaikwad arrived, moving Joseph’s group toward the barrier.
Shubman Gill stepped aside as Samson launched an all-out assault. The teenage batter immediately went into attack mode and reached his fifty runs off 39 pitches before falling shortly after chipping a Shepherd delivery to mid-off. Hardik Pandya took charge of the slog overs and made sure 42 runs came off 19 balls, assisting India in surpassing the 350-run threshold. Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya rebuilt with a 49-ball stand for 65 runs.
West Indies’ pursuit got off to a bad start. Brandon King was quickly eliminated by Mukesh Kumar after being caught behind for a duck and having Kyle Mayers’ stumps knocked over shortly after. The teenage fast bowler also snagged the dependable Shai Hope, dropping West Indies to 17-3—a disastrous start considering they were chasing 352 in a series-deciding match.
In order to throw the West Indies into a free fall at 50-6, Jaydev Unadkat removed Carty, one of the match’s heroes, before Shardul Thakur picked up the crucial wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and Romario Shepherd. Kuldeep Yadav knocked over Yannic Cariah and Alick Athanaze just as they were starting to exert some resistance, and shortly after, he had Cariah strapped in front to reduce the score to 88-8.
Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie displayed the kind of resistance required further up the order, playing good cricketing shots, and putting on 55 for the ninth wicket in just under 10 overs, just as the hosts were looking at an embarrassing sub-100 total in response to 351. However, Shardul got Joseph late on a hook and convinced him to sneak off to Kishan, so it was never going to stay.
There was some controversy because West Indies disputed the umpire’s decision to declare Jayden Seales caught after Kuldeep Yadav challenged it. The catch was given not out since there was no bat. The ball appeared to be striking the stumps when the umpire called while checking for the LBW, though. The umpire’s call for LBW was technically “not out” because the on-field umpire hadn’t given the ball away, so Seales was given not out.
Shardul Thakur took Seales’ stumps out for good measure, taking his fourth wicket and giving India a 200-run victory, so it wasn’t a high-stakes controversy for them. For his 85, Shubman Gill was named the game’s man of the match.
With this victory, India now has a 2-1 series lead as they advance to a five-match T20 series that will take place from August 3 to August 13, 2023.
Short rankings: India West Indies were defeated by 351/5 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 85, Ishan Kishan 77, Hardik Pandya 70, Romario Shepherd 2-73) by 200 runs. (Gudakesh Motie 39, Alick Athanaze 32, Shadul Thakur 4-37, Mukesh Kumar 3-30)