King Ends ODI Series With Impressive Innings For Woeful Windies
India trounce Pooran’s out-of-sorts team to inflict their biggest-ever ODI win over the WI in the Caribbean
Brandon King joined skipper Nicholas Pooran as the West Indies’ joint top scorers, but the Windies signed off the ODI series against India with an unwelcome 3-0 reversal yesterday (27 July).
Jamaican King hit 42 off 37 deliveries, while Trinidadian Pooran reached the same total off 32 balls with a captain’s innings, but the Windies still suffered a hefty 119-run defeat.
Pooran, who had come close to registering a rare success over the tourists in their opening two ODIs, was left embarrassed as India recorded their largest-ever ODI win over the West Indies in the Caribbean.
It got even worse for the Windies as the one-sided contest at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad’s Port of Spain was affected by rain. So the DLS Method was utilised, with the hosts set a tricky target of 257 to chase in 36 overs.
Shikhar Dhawan elected to bat first and with fellow opener Shubman Gill (98no) piled on the misery, as the pair powered to a century with aplomb. But the captain was caught for 58 by Pooran off Antiguan-American Hayden Walsh Jr, the breakthrough coming in the 23rd over at 113 runs.
Shreyas Iyer (44) joined Gill at the crease for a quickfire 86-run partnership in just under ten overs. Guyana’s Keemo Paul caught Iyer off Trinidadian Akeal Hosein to give the Windies a fighting chance.
Then Walsh Jr sent Suryakumar Yadav (8) back to the pavilion, caught by Bajan Shamarh Brooks. The tourists’ innings ground to a halt because of rain, which left Gill stranded while being on the verge of scoring a century, as India finished on a creditable 225-3 after 36 overs.
With the Windies having been involved in a pair of exciting and closely-fought ODIs encounters in Port of Spain, which both went down to the wire, the debacle of this response in the final ODI was totally unexpected.
The West Indies were easily bundled out for a paltry 137 off 26 overs, with only four players achieving double figures that comprised King, Pooran, Bajan opener Shai Hope (22) and Walsh Jr (10).
Being skittled out so easily was a shock, yet it was Mohammed Siraj’s first over that set up the emphatic victory with the Bajan duo of Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks both dismissed for a duck.
Wicketkeeper Hope and Brandon briefly made an impact, but both were soon back in the pavilion with Hope stumped and Brandon clean bowled. The hosts appeared to be in deep trouble at 74-4 off 13.6 overs.
There was little resistance to this seemingly inevitable defeat once Pooran was out in the 22nd over at 119-6.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4-17) ended the agony by polishing off the lower order with a double strike in the 26th over as the Windies were bowled out for a pitiful 137 to suffer a 3-0 clean sweep.
India’s 12th ODI series win over the West Indies certainly leaves question marks over Pooran’s suitability to lead the team, as it follows Bangladesh’s 3-0 ODI series rout this month.
Overall it was a tense ODI series, but an embarrassing finale with yet another below par batting effort from the Windies.
Had Pooran not led by example with his confident knock, then CWI (Cricket West Indies) could have been extremely upset by this team display. Jason Holder was added to the relatively weak ODI squad by CWI, but for this last match the Barbados’ all rounder failed to impress with either the bat or ball.
Pooran explained: “Today, we didn’t show up – and everyone saw that. But that’s fine, it happens in games.
“I felt like we could have been on the other side of this [ODI] series, but it didn’t happen for us. It felt like we did a lot of right things in the first two games.
“It’s a lot of games in a short space of time, but we definitely turned up for this series and we tried our best.”
There are even more games in quick succession coming up for Pooran to try his luck.with all eyes focused on whether the Windies can bounce back from this humiliation. They face India in a five-match T20I series, which starts in Trinidad with the final two games contested in the United States.
The ultra-modern 15,000-capacity Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando will make history by hosting a men’s international for the first time tomorrow (29 July).
Two T20Is follow at Warner Park in St. Kitts before a pair of T20Is are played at the Central Broward Park in Florida, the sole cricket stadium in the US.
WI v INDIA SHORT-BALL SERIES
1st ODI | India won by 3 runs
India 308-7 (50 overs)
West Indies 305-6 (50 overs)
2nd ODI | India won by 2 wickets
West Indies 311-6 (50 overs)
India 312-8 (49.4 overs)
3rd ODI | India won by 119 runs (DLS Method)
India 225-3 (36 overs)
West Indies 137 all out (26 overs)
29 July | 1st T20I | Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad
1 August | 2nd T20I | Warner Park, St. Kitts
2 August | 3rd T20I | Warner Park, St. Kitts
6 August | 4th T20I | Central Broward Park, Lauderhill, Florida, USA
7 August | 5th T20I | Central Broward Park, Lauderhill, Florida, USA
Download The Jamaican Blogs™ App for your Android device: HERE
Remember to share this article on Facebook and other Social Media Platforms. To submit your own articles or to advertise with us please send us an EMAIL at: [email protected]