Published: Jul 01, 2017, 12:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 01, 2017, 12:28 PM (IST)
West Indies invited India to bat first for the third consecutive time, in third of the five-ODI series at Antigua. Ajinkya Rahane made the most of his form and scored 72, despite India losing Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli early on. Yuvraj Singh then amends for his previous failures in the series but could not convert his good start into a big innings. However, MS Dhoni kept his cool in middle overs, against a disciplined West Indian bowling and remained unbeaten on 78, taking India to a respectable 251 for 4. In reply, West Indies managed 158 all-out, courtesy Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin trapping them in a spin web. Although Rovman Powell and Jason Mohammed provided resistance, India were too spectacular to give West Indies any respite. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs West Indies- 3rd ODI
Brothers in arms: For only the fourth time in the history of West Indies cricket that two brothers – Shai Hope and Kyle Hope – featured in the same ODI. However, Shai made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in November 2016, scoring a match-turning 47 off 81. Although his brother Kyle did not score much in his maiden ODI, he took a blinder to send captain Kohli packing.
The first pair of brothers to play for West Indies were Robert Samuels and Marlon Samuels. They, for that matter, did not play together for West Indies. (Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo, who are half-brothers, have played ODIs for West Indies together, and so did Colin Pedro and Fidel Edwards.)
Jason Holder’s 50th ODI wicket: Holder became only the third West Indies’ skipper to take 50 ODI wickets. Holder snatched outfoxed Kohli with extra bounce and pace. Trying to play away from his body, Kohli got a thick outside edge as the ball landed straight into the hands of a leaping Hope at gully.
Ajinkya Rahane’s sturdy knock: Continuing his form, Rahane looked fluent from the onset. His first boundary, to the left of point, was indication that he would make the most of the bouncy track.
He, along with Yuvraj Singh, resurrected India’s innings after Dhawan and Kohli were dismissed in quick succession. While Yuvraj’s scratchy innings came to an end on 39, Rahane continued his resistance. He reached his 18th fifty in 83 balls, his third in a row. Rahane’s innings came to a halting on 72 off 112 balls, in a bid to up the scoring rate.
MS Dhoni’s 63rd ODI fifty: Dhoni’s bat isn’t yielding that many runs or making impact in the death overs like it used to. Coming in 27th over, Dhoni looked out of sorts against the likes of Devendra Bishoo and Ashley Nurse. Especially against Bishoo, Dhoni looked could not find his feet, scoring a mere 5 runs off 22 balls.
Once set and with India needing quick runs, Dhoni unleashed his raging bat and slammed boundaries at will. He reached his 63rd ODI fifty and awarded Man of the Match for the same.
Pandya downs West Indies’ Hopes: Hardik Pandya’s bowling has always been under the radar in ODIs. With his straight and quick action, he tends to extract more bounce, which was witnessed against Shai and Kyle Hope. Kyle was guilty of playing away from his body, while Shai did not find any room to play the intended shot. Both Kyle and Shai gave away simple catches off short balls.
Kuldeep Yadav’s mesmerising 3-for: After shining in the second match, Kuldeep Yadav continued to take huge strides in the ODI arena. Still to find fame, Kuldeep took full advantage of his art and bamboozled his opponents at will. Kuldeep foxed Roston Chase with a wrong ‘un, which he missed and got cleaned up. His second wicket saw Rovman Powell get deceived by a googly.
His third and final wicket was more about beating the batsman in flight. Jason Mohammed went early into his shot and was found leg-before.
Ashwin attains new high: Ashwin became the second-fastest India spinner to take 150 wickets, after Anil Kumble. Ashwin ended with figures of 3 for 28.
